 Warning! Don't plug your smart pen into your computer to update! |
| Review Date: February 26, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Ann, Oregon, United States |
| I have never given a review on Amazon before, but I want people to know that I am disgusted with the fact that there is no warnig that you could possibly destroy your smart pen by trying to update it. It was actually a great educational toy that my kids and I enjoyed until I tried to update my pen from the internet as it is designed to do and it froze up my pen. I now have a really expensive globe that does nothing. I called the company to see what they could do to help and was told they would do nothing. I only had the option of buying another pen for around $60! If you have one or are thinking of buying one -whatever you do- DON'T plug it into your computer to update! |
Don't waste your money
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| Review Date: January 18, 2010 |
| Reviewer: JM, FL, United States |
| I should have paid heed to the poor reviews this product got. I ordered this for my kids for Christmas, and over one month later, it is still not operable. The instructions/vendor forget to mention that the "pen" (which is the main component when using the globe) is immediately destroyed if you try to register it/download information on it using a computer whose operating system is anything but Windows XP/2000 (we only have Vista). So the pen was destroyed from the get-go, and I have been trying for a month to work with Oregon Scientific to get a new pen, and get it to work! No can do. The customer service is terrible, long hold times, hours of operation very inconvenient, and each time you call you have to start at square one because they have no way of tracking customer calls, issues, etc. This product should NOT be sold on Amazon. Supposedly I will get a refund, but I have to pay shipping costs back to the manufacturer for a product that never worked from the minute it got out of the box. Just overall bad product and even worse customer service. Buy at your own risk. |
GREAT Product
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| Review Date: July 21, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Mom of two, New England |
| This is a great product because you can update the fact base according to the age of the child, so it grows with your child and stays relevant by keeping pace with current world events. It is an excellent learning tool and worth every penny of what the manufacturer is offering it for on their own page, which is sixty less than the base price offered here, plus nine ninety five in shipping. Why the huge mark-up by this seller? |
great product!
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| Review Date: April 24, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Lindsay Lang, Newburgh, IN USA |
| This globe is awesome! We bought this for my five year old son. He is autistic and has a strong interest in geography. He has played with the globe almost every day and can now recite facts about lots of places all around the world. My 18 year old son, husband and I have also enjoyed learning about the world. The quizzes are great. My son loves to listen to the globe in Spanish also! I highly recommend this product. |
Smart Globe
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| Review Date: April 10, 2009 |
| Reviewer: W. Dolan, |
| I would recommend this company to anyone looking for good service. Had no problems and would buy from them again. |
Not Worth all the Hassle!
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| Review Date: February 10, 2009 |
| Reviewer: bro, Shreveport, LA United States |
| This product was a huge disappointment. They advertised that you can update the Smartpen on their website, but this rarely ever works. I tried 3 different PC's, and wasted a huge amount of time. I did not want to disappoint my daughter, but in the end, we were all disappointed. You are lucky to get it to connect to their website, and then when it does, the download invariably crashes. Customer service is very unhelpful and not competent to solve the problems that I experienced. Do not waste your money on Oregon Scientific products. Tech Support was rude and unhelpful. Also, still no Mac compatibility. Very disappointed! |
Says what it does, does what it says.
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| Review Date: January 25, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Douglas Reedy, Dublin OH |
Purchased this after Christmas at a local "membership warehouse club" for one-third the current Amazon price (forty USD). Everything worked just fine out of the box. The base uses 4 AA batteries solely for amplification, while the "smart pen" (which houses the actual computer) uses 2 AAA batteries. A cable allows the smart-pen to play through the speakers in the globe, however this can be disconnected to use the small speaker built into the pen. You can also plug regular 1/8" stereo headphones directly into the pen for a much quieter experience.
After Inauguration Day 2009, we wanted our globe to correctly identify the President of the USA as "Barack Obama" and not his predoppressor, so in spite of the warnings of a few others here, I decided to connect the smart pen to a computer for an update. Rather than risk using old software shipped on CD, I went to the mfr's website and downloaded the current software application. Once installed, the smart pen was correctly detected when connected via USB. The software then required registration with the unique product code, and once this was submitted the update was available. It is at this point you can select what age range you wish to download to your smart pen; 5-8, 9-14, or 15 and up. The software then downloads the updated data and program for the pen, once complete it copies these to the pen. I was nervous about having a problem, but there were no problems at all. The update process worked perfectly. Not sure why others here have had problems, but I would recommend they download the updated software from the website which was just updated in December 2008.
All in all the SmartGlobe is a terrific product, seems well-constructed and provides an educational challenge, not only for my 6yo son but also for those who simply didn't pay attention to geography in school. The globe was rated 2007 Toy of the Year, so I hope the mfr will continue to update and improve the software the smart pen utilizes. I would recommend this to anyone, especially if you can get it for a fraction of the MSRP like I did. |
My 4-year old knows where Algeria is
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| Review Date: December 3, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Opinion Holder, |
My son is 4.5 years old. We are thrilled with the geographical capability that using this globe builds. He can identify many countries, some of the more unusual ones are: Algeria, Niger, Nigeria, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Hong Kong, Turkey.
He likes saying Bon Jour which is a setting where you touch a country with the wand and it tells you the native language and how to say hello. I am pleased as punch that he is really enjoying it and learning where many of these countries are.
Without question the best toy we have bought him and he is really learning about the world - a great skill in these global times. |
Poor software, no customer service, do not waste your time.
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| Review Date: November 26, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Michael Nelson, South Ogden, UT United States |
| I bought the Oregon Scientific Smartglobe for my two young sons for Christmas this year. After reading some poor reviews, I decided I would buy it, try it out and then decide if I would keep it or return it. The major selling point of this globe is that it can be updated on the internet and customized for specific ages. The software installed with errors. I plugged in the Smartpen, it downloaded all of updates, but when sending the information to the pen, the software crashed. It bricked the Smartpen. It would turn on, but the audio would click constantly. When trying to update the software again, it indicated that it couldn't find the serial number from the pen. Needless to say, it's a month before Christmas and it's back in the box on it's way back so I can get a refund. I work in I.T., I tried the software on several computers with no luck. There's no support online for the globe. The customer service is only available limited hours. Don't waste your time and save yourself the headaches. I would recommend passing this product up. |
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