Interactive talking globe

[mamasaurus]

Anyone have experience with those interactive talking globes? Are they worth the money? I've read that sometimes the stylus pen stops working, or the thing malfunctions, etc. Any experience?

TIA!

[binxsmom]

my kids were given a smartglobe over 2 years ago for christmas. we love it. it works great and we haven't had any problems. that said, i've never updated it via the usb connection. the stylus is somewhat picky but after you get the hang of it, it's simple.

we particularly like the quiz feature. often we will compete to see who can find the most countries. it's really cool.

we still use it fairly regularly and we've had it for quite a while.

[CariOfOz]

We have an Oregon something or other smartglobe. I like the *idea* but from the minute we got it (thankfully *I* didn't spend any $ on it, it was a surprise from MIL) we have not been able to do the usb updates at all. The cord connecting the pen to the globe stopped working so the only volume we get from it at all is through the pen & not the globe speaker, making it very quiet.

And this is with VERY careful use, the kids did not get to get it down without one of us supervising and making sure they were gentle etc. I'm thinking ours was just a lemon

[mamasaurus]

Originally Posted by binxsmom

my kids were given a smartglobe over 2 years ago for christmas. we love it. it works great and we haven't had any problems. that said, i've never updated it via the usb connection. the stylus is somewhat picky but after you get the hang of it, it's simple.

Do you know what brand it is? Thanks!

[dotnetdiva]

We got a Leapfrog Explorer Smart Globe. No problems at all, we love it! It seems very robust for young children, and I wouldn't call the stylus delicate. I think my cats even tried chewing on it... It still works great.

I must admit we do use our fancy floor globe more though.

My Amazon history says this is the one we got, but ours was only $99. It looks the same except it is the green one pictured:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ms_ohs_product

It has 174 good reviews, so most people also must love theirs! If you search this forum, I did find a link where you can get one for around $100.

The Leapfrog one doesn't have the cool USB feature, but looking at the reviews in this post and on this page, sounds like some others have had problems with that feature or something else:
http://www.amazon.com/Oregon-Scienti...8033948&sr=8-3