The minis require you to have a serial adapter of some sort to load sketches to it. Once loaded you don't need the serial adapter connected anymore but I found this to be a pain to get working first time every time. The USB nanos work first time, much less hassle.

I have 4 in use and I think I bought 5 nanos and 5 pro minis a while back.

That does sound easier. I'm sure I have a few mini USB leads around too. Just over £2 for an unsoldered board. I might order a couple of them and wireless modules and maybe some temp sensors too. If I had more time I could get carried away with these.

Not sure if all mine came with USB cables but some I have bought did, I was fairly impressed since I was just expecting board and pins.

About £2.80 for a nano with a cable. Cheap. People probably pay about 5 or 10 times that just for a USB cable in some shops.

Things I have ordered so far:
2 nanos
4 wireless transceivers
1 real time clock
2 temp sensors

One more question (for now): I can probably get my hands on quite a high capacity 18V Li Ion battery from an old cordless drill.

How could I use that with an Arduino. External voltage regulator or sommat?

Most Arduinos can take 6-20V on the Vin so you shouldn't need a regulator (there's one onboard).

Both my SainSmart and the nanos say up to 12V.

Had a quick look on Google. Depends how much current the board will be consuming. If it's not doing too much it should be ok with the 18V, otherwise it would need another regulator that could handle tthe current.

A quick question about the mini boards: what cable is required to program the board? Is it just a cable or is there a circuit board between the two?

I might buy an 8MHz mini to make a custom transmitter to use my Taranis controller with my Hubsan X4.

The Pro Minis (without USB) need a USB to Serial (FT232) adapter of some sort to program them.

Because my adapter doesn't have the correct reset pin or something like that it's a pain to use, I've got to reset the board at exactly the right point to get sketches to load.

This might be useful - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vawhrr4COjI

Much obliged once again Anthony. I'll have a look at that video later. Too many things I want to do already that I don't have parts for.

A little graph of the temp monitoring using a LM35. The temp at the start was in my bedroom, dropped when I brought the laptop into the kitchen. Went back up with the oven on. The drop down to 6°C ish was when I put two frozen peas either side of the sensor.

I have quite a few things on the way from China <twiddles thumbs>

And to think our forefathers had to go down the pub and play skittles for laughs. Indeed, we are reaching an apex of civilisation.

There's still a skittle pub in Edinburgh, it's awesome.

But how hot is it? If Chris doesn't get there, we'll never know.

Playing skittles in a pub does sound like a lot of fun. I did need something to do while cooking my chicken kievs though.

Data!

Nice data :) What do use to protect your Arduino outside? And how long do they last sending data wirelessly?

I have got a button fading my LCD brightness in and out. Need to actually show something on it though.