Customer Reviews

Deluxe Mini Play Cube by Anatex

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

First off, the short version: if you're not comfortable enough with tools to fix what's wrong with this toy, don't buy it. That, or check the packaging and product carefully -- if it claims a 2007 manufacture date and says it was made in China, or if on inspection you see anything wrong, pack it back up and return it as defective. At least some versiosn of this thing are at best poorly made and fragile, and at worst dangerous.

I'm not going to address the fun or educational aspects of this toy, just the manufacturing issues some have reported. Bought one for my daughter in September 2009. It arrived in a box prominently labeled "Made in China" and with a claimed manufacture date in 2007. Whatever factory in China accepted Anatex's outsourcing contract hasn't yet mastered quality control, because there were quite a number of manufacturing defects:

Imprecise assembly: fasteners and brackets are not accurately placed, causing parts to be loose or misaligned. This is most evident on the bead maze on the top and the "abacus" sliding-bead panel on the side, which is mounted on four stand-off brackets. Mount those brackets in the wrong places and the screws used to attach the panel either won't reach or will be under enough strain they'll pull out (it's very soft pine, and screw threads easily pull loose.) Up on the bead maze, some of the wire ends are mounted crooked, resulting in the wires actually touching or just passing so close to one another that the beads can't pass by.

Mismatched, incorrect parts choices: speaking of that panel, one of the screws used to mount it was the incorrect size, and had not only pulled loose but was loose in the box when I unpacked it; it doesn't match any of the others used with identical mountings, nor does it match any other screw found on the entire unit. There's no excuse for that one short of basic incompetence combined with inadequate or nonexistent quality control.

Incorrect gluing: Once again with the abacus panel -- it's held together with glue. Nothing wrong with that if it's done right, but it wasn't -- see, to make a good glue joint you need clean surfaces, a lot of contact area and a proper amount of glue inbetween, plus a good pressure fit while the glue dries. Well, the surfaces were clean and the joint more or less correctly designed, but the glue was _missing_. What was holding it together? A dab of red paint around the corner. Splendid. Paint ain't adhesive, guys, and the whole point of a glue joint is you put some actual _glue_ in there somewhere. As it was, two of the four joints had popped open, causing the rods to dislodge from their sockets and scarring the surface. Those beads are small enough to be a choking hazard if they get loose, so having those glue joints work is important.

Inadequate torque: Ah, the gift that keeps on giving. About a third of the screws and other fasteners in the unit were loose because they hadn't been torqued down hard enough. Another third had stripped the threads out of the soft wood, because they'd been torqued too hard. The remaining third were in a magical inbetween state which might even have been correct torque -- but I suspect it's just coincidence. As I mentioned, this is soft wood, and proper torque matters. (n.b. for nonmechanical types: "torque" roughly means "how hard you twist the screws.")

What else was wrong? Well, there were plenty of inexplicable gouges, scrapes and dings on the surface, even though it was properly packed and nothing in the box had a chance to impact the surface. Plenty of people have commented on that -- it means the factory in China that produced them was working too fast and/or wasn't well tooled for the job, so parts were being thrown around.

So, should you buy this toy? Well, chances are your kid(s) will love it. So if you want one, fine, but be prepared to inspect it very thoroughly when it comes out of the box. Test every screw to ensure it's snug and not loose or stripped. Pop the little plastic caps off the axles on the gear side and check that the locking washers are tight. Check the glue joints and be prepared to spend a little time gluing and clamping. Check both ends of every wire in the bead maze to ensure they're firmly stuck in their mounting holes. Go over all the many dings, gouges and scrapes and smooth out the splintered bits. Find any screws that don't look like they match their companions, gently unscrew them and if they're too short or too fine-pitched in the threads, replace them. While you're at it, attach something heavy to the lower edges on the inside, because it's top-heavy and will tip over the first time your child tries to use it to stand up. Think of it like a toy for both you and your child -- you get a fun evening in the garage fixing everything Anatex's manufacturer did wrong, while showering curses on the consumer-hostile side effects of globalized manufacturing. Then when you're done, your child gets a fun thing to play with.

Just got mine on December 28, 2007. Don't know if previous versions were made in China, but mine has "Made in USA" written on the packaging as opposed to the versions received by other reviewers. Further, mine has ink (nontoxic as stated on the box) on the gears rather than stickers as has been used on previous iterations. I tried scraping the ink off, but it seems pretty durable. This is a great activity cube. Maybe Anatex got the message and made improvements on past complaints. If this is the case, kudos to them! Needs a good cleaning to get the dust off, but this is par for a toy implementing wood. Amazon Prime rocks - overnight shipping for this big toy was only $3.00!

I ought this for my daughter for her 1st birthday. She loves the bead maze at the top and she goes round and round the cube exploring all the different sides!

So as the title would suggest, the stickers on the cog wheels are starting to come off (after 1 week). This doesnt affect the functionality of the toy, just the aesthetics. If you are not bothered by some bare cogwheels this is still a great toy!

It stands 2 feet tall to the top of the maze and is the perfect height for little ones. The other 3 sides are: ABC with pictures rotating blocks, Abacus, Sliding plastic pegs. The only side with stickers is the cog wheels so no worries about other sides losing stickers.

If they had made the cog wheels out of wood or had the design painted or imprinted into the plastic this toy would be a 10!

Very disappointing product. It arrived broken due to poor packaging for shipment. Fortunately, Amazon only offered refunds (no replacements) on the return and we did get our money refunded. The toy was constructed out of low quality plywood. The portion broken during shipping was located on the face containing the "peg maze". If this face breaks during play, the pegs will become a choke hazard. For the cost, I would have expected something more solidly constructed. Not recommended.

Shipping was fast from the seller... The item wasn't as high of quality as I was expecting. It had screws loose (one had fallen completely out). It is hollow in the center with no bottom and the moveable colored pegs on the side are in there all floppy and are not very easily moved around. I don't think this cube is anywhere near worth the cost the retailers are charging for it.

While this product is slightly smaller than I thought before I saw it, the construction, unlike in other reviews, is *solid*. This item is played with by many children throughout the day in my store, and it has held up for months with little to no signs of wear. The wood construction is (I think - it's not in front of me) 12-layer solid plywood, nicely cut, and very well put together. Each side has its own activity, and each seems nicely made.

We purchased this a couple of months back for our then 8 month old. She loves it and plays quite a bit with it. It's a neat toy. However, is is VERY dangerous given poor manufacturing in one area. One side has some wooden blocks in a grid that is attached to the main unit via 4 L-shaped brackets using some very short wood screws which are very shiny and sharp. We have taken 2 of these screws out of our baby's hands - one was on the way to her mouth when my wife stopped her no less! A third one fell out today and my wife beat the baby to it. These are incredible choking hazards - they are metal screws about 3/8 inch long with a sharp point.

I've just returned from Lowes where I purchased thicker screws to re-attach the block assembly. We will watch carefully to see if they loosen up with play and use bolts with nuts next time if they get loose.

It's a real shame because this is a very nice and engaging toy. It is very dangerous given the situation with the screws however.

I love the design of this toy and so does my son. BUT, I sent the first one back because one of the crews was stripped and kept turning. I sure didn't want it to fall out one one and my son finding it. It had some paint marks on the inside and piece of wood on the inside was broken. Then, I got a replacement one that has one screw stripped once again and the 4 screws to screw the top were missing altogether and of course more paint on the inside. Made in China with lots of paint which also makes me nervous. Their quality control sucks, I can't believe that two out of two products are both defective. I feel bad for Amazon paying for shipping back and forth to send me new and will keep the second one, but will NOT purchase any more products from Anatex. This toy cost around $100 and for this kind of money, I expect quality. And this product is not quality.

After reading many reviews about the stickers falling off and looking at other cubes, I decided this toy was worth it even without the stickers. I was surprised when it arrived to see that the manufacturer corrected this problem. There are no stickers on the gears, but instead the pattern is painted on. My son loves this toy and overall it was a GREAT buy.

EDIT: We have owned this toy for nearly a year since my review and it is still a hit and has held up. My son is a very rough player and has abused the cube beyond belief but it still looks like new.

So my little man will be turning 2 years old in just 11 days! I am by no means ready for that, as it just makes him that much closer to going to preschool, grade school,highschool , college, and then leaving me for another woman! I know I am overreacting and him growing up is just what is supposed to happen but he is my first and I am his mama!

Okay so before I start going to old photos and reminiscing about his baby days I wanted to post about this great toy that we bought him for his 1st Birthday. I got the idea for it because they always have these contraptions at doctors offices and I remember having one when I was little. I searched the stores with no luck as the ones they offered were cheaply made and did not look very stimulating. Then I checked out Amazon.com which of course has everything! Amazon.com had many of these play cubes available but this one really caught my eye. It is from Anatex and it is still one of my son's favorite toys.

It has 4 full sides of toys and of course the cool mini rollercoaster on the top. The four sides include:

* pathfinder- you have to move a peg around a maze
* counting abacus- different colored beads you move back and forth
* fun gears- different colored gears that you just move around
* the alphabet- each letter is on a piece of wood that flips over and shows a picture that the letter represents

The ages on this toy are 36 months-5years (I know I bought it early but it is fine for him) and the suggested retail price is $299.99, but you can see below Amazon sells it for around a $100. The size of it is also nice as it measures 17 x 17 x 33 inches so it is perfect to sit or stand and play, and you can place it on a table or the floor. It is hollow inside and very easy to move around. My favorite feature though is that it is made of high quality wood, not plastic or cheap scrap wood. Also, another awesome feature is that there are NO Stickers and the paint is non-toxic. I have so many toys that the stickers have fallen off and been eaten and left the toy looking cheap and with all the recalls lead paint is always a worry.

A little a bit about the company Anatex. They were actually the first company to manufacture and distribute Rollercoaster wire bead maze frames in the US and North America and ever since they strive to make high quality toys with great service. Anatex is a Parent's Choice Gold Winner and has received many more awards for its unique and innovative toys.

Okay so I did do a lot of research about this toy and these play cubes last year when I bought it because I was a new mom who only wanted the best and more educational toys. This toy proved to be both for me and my son and with it being so nice and so far able to withstand his rough playing I believe it is going to be a long lasting toy in our family. So if you do not have a toy similar or you are looking for some ideas here you go. They do run much cheaper and now they do offer more of a selection in retail stores, but when I bought it this was definitely the best for its price.