New! LEGO Set Compare Tool!

[Jeff Mack]

Hi everyone, I have been working on something for a few days. It is a LEGO set compare tool. You will be able to enter in up to six sets. If you feel that I need to add more sets on to compare, I will, not a problem. It will give you side-by-side comparison of the sets which includes the basic set information as well as the value information. I feel this will be a great tool when you are having a hard deciding on what set to buy next, wondering the difference between two or more sets or trying to come up with good pricing to sell sets.

Take a look, try it out. Any bugs, report them to me. Any ideas or thoughts on what else would be good to add to it, let me know here so we can discuss it.

Check out the LEGO Set Compare Tool

Thanks,

Jeff

[Mos_Eisley]

That is a very handy and awesome tool! Nice work. One thing I would like to see is the date a set was released and the day it was retired, with a total lifespan shown. I know these dates vary by country, but at least some idea of a set's shelf life would be interesting to me. Sets hang around in stores sometimes after they sell out on S@H, but I would think the day it first gets deleted from their site would be a good end of life date. I imagine this info would be tough to gather though.

[jocappy]

I like it!

[schmidtywerben]

Awesome new tool! I really like it! It gives a complete overview of the individual sets as well as a side by side comparison of others. This will definitely help me with my buying decisions. Thanks!

[timinchicago]

Great tool, very useful. I do not know if these are bugs but I did notice two things when I tested it out. First it appears that entering the set number is not sufficient, you must affirmatively select a set from the drop down list. Not terrible, but it is a little cumbersome when you just want to pop in some set numbers. Secondly, again not sure if this is a site issue or a bug, but when the results display it screws up the site side index so that you can only see them if you move your cursor over them. Also my avatar shows up in a strange spot on the screen kind of floating there. I will continue to check this tool out as it is very cool. Thanks for the work, I think it is a valuable addition to the site.

[Jeff Mack]

Great tool, very useful. I do not know if these are bugs but I did notice two things when I tested it out. First it appears that entering the set number is not sufficient, you must affirmatively select a set from the drop down list. Not terrible, but it is a little cumbersome when you just want to pop in some set numbers. Secondly, again not sure if this is a site issue or a bug, but when the results display it screws up the site side index so that you can only see them if you move your cursor over them. Also my avatar shows up in a strange spot on the screen kind of floating there.

I will continue to check this tool out as it is very cool.

Thanks for the work, I think it is a valuable addition to the site.

If possible, can you post a screen shot so i can see what's happening with the strange displays.

As for the entering of the sets. Yes I am using the autocomplete to where you DO need to select the set from the drop down. There are 9000+ sets, some are close in numbers. If you don't select them, I can have it search for a close match, but then it might not be the exact one you are looking for. I will continue to work on the selection process, but it works if type the name or the number, but there may be better ways.

[Jeff Mack]

One thing I would like to see is the date a set was released and the day it was retired, with a total lifespan shown.

We have collected some of this information, but the retired dates would really just start within the past year. LEGO does not make this public knowledge and Brickset so far is the only site that tracks it for the most part. So moving forward, I think we can add this in, but it would be blank more most of the past sets. It's something we can work on though. For a site like this, it is valuable information. I just wish LEGO would include some of this info on their site in some manner.

[Ed Mack]

We have collected some of this information, but the retired dates would really just start within the past year. LEGO does not make this public knowledge and Brickset so far is the only site that tracks it for the most part. So moving forward, I think we can add this in, but it would be blank more most of the past sets. It's something we can work on though. For a site like this, it is valuable information. I just wish LEGO would include some of this info on their site in some manner.

Unfortunately, EOL(End of Line) information you seek is probably known only to LEGO and some whacked out, anal LEGO collector out there. LOL. Even the information on Brickset is sketchy at best. LEGO never comes right out and says, "Hey, the Millennium Falcon 10179 is going to stop being produced on such and such a date!" On many occasions, LEGO sets were sold out on LEGO.com and all of the sudden, reappeared for sale.

I guess LEGO does not want people to know what they are really doing. Why should they? They know that collectors and investors will buy sets like crazy if they know when a set is being retired. Why not tease customers for months, or years in the case of the 10188 Death Star, to maximize profits and sales? It would be great info to have though. It would really aid in gauging investment options.

[timinchicago]

I guess LEGO does not want people to know what they are really doing. Why should they? They know that collectors and investors will buy sets like crazy if they know when a set is being retired. Why not tease customers for months, or years in the case of the 10188 Death Star, to maximize profits and sales? It would be great info to have though. It would really aid in gauging investment options.

Another good example would be Fire Brigade. It has been back ordered on LEGO Shop at Home several times now only to pop back up as available. The though available date has not changed in the past couple of weeks--consistently 10 June here in the US. Right now Fire Brigade is only available in the UK at LEGO Shop at Home. The modular craze has still not peaked in my opinion so who know if TLG will string it along until the next modular is released.

[Mos_Eisley]

Yea, I know that LEGO doesn't publish this info or anything, but I figure there are people out there who would know. The release dates should be relatively easy as sets ship with stickers on them that say do not put out until xx. Obviously things go out early, but it would be a consistant guideline. When products go to "backorder" they aren't retired. They are still producing those sets. Occasionaly things go to sold out early in a products life but usually once it hits sold out it's done. Sure they sometimes reappear in small quantities that are quickly bought up. Even an accurate final month would be nice. I know it isn't easy information to gather, I'm just saying that it would be great info for a site like this. :)

[Ed Mack]

Yea, I know that LEGO doesn't publish this info or anything, but I figure there are people out there who would know. The release dates should be relatively easy as sets ship with stickers on them that say do not put out until xx. Obviously things go out early, but it would be a consistant guideline.

When products go to "backorder" they aren't retired. They are still producing those sets. Occasionaly things go to sold out early in a products life but usually once it hits sold out it's done. Sure they sometimes reappear in small quantities that are quickly bought up. Even an accurate final month would be nice. I know it isn't easy information to gather, I'm just saying that it would be great info for a site like this.

I wish LEGO did publish this information. It would be very interesting to see how long various themes last on the primary market. As you said and I agree, there is probably someone out there with that info besides LEGO, but they are the same people who know where AREA 57 is and whether or not Bigfoot is real or not. LOL.

My reference to sets coming back from retirement was basically referring to Brickset's EOL data that sometimes is not accurate. Brickset is a wonderful site and I'm not knocking it, it's just that their discontinued sets info isn't always correct and I understand completely. It's very hard to keep track of 9000+ LEGO sets and all that info and data. Huw does a great job with the site and Brickset is the only site with information like EOL data that I can look at, but as a whole, most of the EOL data is an approximation at best.

[JesusLovesLegos]

I like it!

I concur.

[JesusLovesLegos]

Yea, I know that LEGO doesn't publish this info or anything, but I figure there are people out there who would know. The release dates should be relatively easy as sets ship with stickers on them that say do not put out until xx. Obviously things go out early, but it would be a consistant guideline.

When products go to "backorder" they aren't retired. They are still producing those sets. Occasionaly things go to sold out early in a products life but usually once it hits sold out it's done. Sure they sometimes reappear in small quantities that are quickly bought up. Even an accurate final month would be nice. I know it isn't easy information to gather, I'm just saying that it would be great info for a site like this.

Jesus knows! lololol

[Guest idunno101]

Hi everyone, I have been working on something for a few days. It is a LEGO set compare tool. You will be able to enter in up to six sets. If you feel that I need to add more sets on to compare, I will, not a problem. It will give you side-by-side comparison of the sets which includes the basic set information as well as the value information. I feel this will be a great tool when you are having a hard deciding on what set to buy next, wondering the difference between two or more sets or trying to come up with good pricing to sell sets.

Take a look, try it out. Any bugs, report them to me. Any ideas or thoughts on what else would be good to add to it, let me know here so we can discuss it.

Check out the LEGO Set Compare Tool

Thanks,

Jeff

This is a great tool that I will denfinately use a lot in the future.It saves from going back and forth on the searches to compare different sets. I have not experienced any issues yet with this and have made multiple searches already. Hope you guys keep improving the site. Thanks!