Zoom Pets Zoomer RoboDog

<Written by 8-year-old recipient:> Zoomer is fun but a little hard to train and sometimes it doesn't do what you want it to do. And it takes an hour to charge, which is a long time. I suggest getting this for someone who can wait a little while. It is sort of confusing in the beginning and sometimes can be a little frustrating but over time it becomes less frustrating.<Written by parent:> Really clever, inventive toy that seems like it will be played with for more than a few weeks. It responds well to adult voices but not as well to higher, children's voices (which is a shortcoming). It takes an hour to charge and then runs for about 15-20 minutes, which is about a normal attention span anyhow. Overall, a cool toy--just on the expensive side.

Purchased Zoomer Puppy for Christmas for our young grandson who is thrilled! He couldn't be happier if it were a real puppy. We removed it from the box ahead of time (no small accomplishment, by the way, trying not to shred its box; it's tied down all over) so we could give it to him charged and ready to go. The usb charging cable had a problem with one connection wire and it took forever to figure out the problem, and my husband had to "jimmy" a wire to finally get it to charge. But finally it worked. In the first afternoon, with several hours of play, our grandson trained it to do 3 tricks. Such a happy kid! Honestly, even if it did no tricks this little puppy would still be cute and entertaining. It roams around the room and wiggles and wags its tail and is quite charming. Heads up: Be sure to READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS FIRST before charging or doing anything with this toy.

This is a toy with a "wow" factor, kids and adults love it. Would have been highlight of Christmas except after 20 mins battery went dead. Given technology now, the fact that the battery lasts 20 mins makes the toy not worth buying. Very regrettably I will be returning and hopefully they come out with a longer lasting version next yr.

Very disappointed in the short life of this toy.I bought Zoomer last Christmas for my daughter. It was the ONLY thing she wanted. The toy comes with a 90 warranty, but that's it, and don't expect it to last much beyond 90 days. Ours was fine for the first few months. She played with it gently but regularly for two months. Then it stayed by her bedside with its own little bowl and mat, and she played with it occasionally for the next few months. We went away on vacation and left Zoomer unplugged and alone during that time. Now, he doesn't work at all. We've tried different cables for charging, just in case the cable was bad. Different wall outlets. We've followed instructions to "reboot" him directly from Spin Master and from a individual's youtube video. Zoomer just died, and the company won't do anything about it because the warranty ran out. 90 days only on a toy that costs about $100 is just not long enough. I don't know about you, but I don't consider $100 to be a disposable amount of money. And I hate letting my children get attached to something they will then have to grieve the loss of after it dies prematurely. I would have expected at least two years of use from Zoomer. I would not have bought it if I knew it was such a delicate toy, prone to breaking internally so readily.I would warn every parent NOT to buy Zoomer, no matter how cute he is. He's just a heartbreak in a box.

The only thing that kept this from being a five star review was the fact that play time on this is so short. Zoomer takes about an hour to charge, but you only get 20-30 minutes of play from that charge.That really is my only complaint.The fact is that Zoomer is adorable! He's very, very puppy like and my daughter was delighted. She loves the reaction she gets when she scratches Zoomer's chest or when she says I love you to him.When we first took him out, we had a little trouble - mostly because everyone was shouting commands at him at once. (And not just the kids! The adults were having just as much fun!)However, reading the manual, we soon realized that you need to calm it down a bit. When one person spoke in a normal tone of voice from 1-3 feet away, Zoomer got it. Now, we haven't had this long so he still needs some training, but he got most of the commands immediately this way. (By the way, it's seriously cute when he sleeps.)Now, for parents of young children:I have a five-year-old. She mostly speaks very firmly and clearly, but when she's excited and her voice pitches louder or softer, Zoomer has trouble with her commands. She's learned very quickly to regulate how she talks to him and has had better success, but it is a learning curve. If you have a younger child who doesn't speak clearly all the time, they'll have a little trouble with Zoomer and may get frustrated when he doesn't react.All in all, I'm thrilled with this product. I would only wish for more play time. 20-30 minutes isn't nearly enough. Very fun little robo-dog!

I am surprised by the negative reviews! We have TWO (2!) real dogs, and one Zoomer. We love pets. ^_^Anyway, Zoomer is hilarious and adorable. You DO have to be patient, but he gets commands faster than a real dog...! My daughter (almost 7) and I figured out some of the "secret" tricks as well ("Zoomer, sing!") -- so that was fun. Playing with him teaches her to be persistent, and works on her focus and attention span. Good for kids this age.His charge lasts longer than 30 minutes for us, but maybe that's because we have concrete floors?We love playing with him. Also, the website (zoomerpup.com) is helpful -- we're going to try the commands that we haven't mastered, using the cadence of the speaker on the site, and see if that helps. We enjoy the challenge!Definitely 5 out of 5 stars!