Err, AFAIK, Patrick has come up with a through-hole design to make the soldering easier - none of that impossible to see surface-mount stuff, so it *should* be vastly easier for anyone with basic soldering competancy to handle. That being said, I (like everyone else here besides Patrick) haven't seen a kit yet, so it's not for me to give a definate answer. But I wouldn't expect to see any of those resistor packs! It's probably not a good idea to compare the button hack soldering to this kit - except to say that anyone capable of the button hack should be vastly overqualifed to assemble this kit.

I would say that this kit is probably not for those who have never picked up a soldering iron before - Patrick has hinted at the component density and the component count, and that combined with the costs of buying suitable tools and the effort needed to practice soldering skills might make it undesirable, but certainly not impossible.

Anyway, I'm in Boston, and time permitting will be able to help out those who need it.