After playing around with many Particle Photons (WiFi), I decided to add in an Electron (Cellular.) I love this thing. I use it to monitor our CamperVan, including the inside temperature/humidity, the fridge temp, and the outside temp (near some critical components under the CamperVan.) The project was simple and I can now monitor and receive critical alarms on my cell phone, regardless of where we're traveling (as long as there's a cell signal, of course.)

Good: easy to program, bullet-proof, excellent community support, cheap monthly usage charges (as long as you program it correctly.) Minuses: Why they don't sell it without all the extra junk is beyond me (Particle's choice, not Sparkfun's.) I would love to purchase this device without the breadboard, micro-usb cable, sensors/resistors, and fancy plastic box. I've asked Particle and the answer was a resounding "NO!" So while I love the Electron, it's pretty obvious the maker community isn't their target market. Fair enough, it's still cool. But it would be cooler if they would lower the price a bit by stripping out the unnecessary components. I only need so many breadboards.

The Particle Electron, like the Photon, is well thought-through product and platform. Its relatively easy and quick to get a demo going. I say relatively because like Arduino it saves the step of setting up the development tool chain. Documentation is thorough in the sense that you can get all of the tutorial examples working quickly. However once you attempt to develop a customized function, the process can slow down. For example I wanted to use a sensor that had functional Arduino code. It did not work as a direct port and I had to spend a few days debugging and sourcing help via the support forum. The forum response was fast and although I had to sort through the various suggestions, I did receive the solution. If I could make a suggestion to Particle it would be to add explicit instructions for Arduino code porting, i.e., which #include are required and importantly, understanding which target build is required.