Any advice on Lego MINDSTORMS?

[tashirosgt]

I need to get my nephew a Christmas present and I notice there is quite a sitr on the web about the Lego mindstorm robot kit (or kits?). Has any forum member tried them? What would be best for a 9 year old?

[Iron_Mike]

I bought one kit for my son a few years back. I think they're pretty cool, I spent more time playing with it than he did.

[tashirosgt]

What age or what skills should a child have to enjoy such a kit? The web says that Lego has produced a new version of the product in the past year, but I can't appreciate the significance of that. I don't know what changed about it.