Customer Reviews

Franklin HW-1216 Children's Speller and Dictionary

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

We bought three of these for our three children, ages 11, 9, 7, to use with writing and to play with on road trips. The lids off all three broke off without any abuse at all. They are just not that well-made. But even though the lids broke off, the kids can still use them. Our oldest, almost 11, has repeatedly found words it does not know that can be added. But, he was disappointed that it didn't know more words.

I bought this for my 4th grader who is bombarded with homework every day. This has been very helpful in assisting him with his homework. He has told me that it has made a difference in getting his work done more efficiently and quickly. I love the spelling feature which corrects him if he spells a word incorrectly. He uses the dictionary the most which saves him the time of looking it up in a traditional dictionary. Well worth the money.

I bought this for my 7-year-old daughter so that I wouldn't have to constantly help her spell words. But the spell checker on this is very weak. There have been numerous times she'd spell a word phonetically and the suggested word list of correctly spelled words was nowhere near the word she was trying to use. (Oftentimes because the word itself was not part of the word bank.) Yet my 20-year-old Seiko Spell Checker/Dictionary/Thesaurus often suggested the correctly spelled word immediately (based on the same wrong spelling). If you are simply looking for a limited spell checker/dictionary of commonly used words, this is okay. If you want a spell checker that helps your child to spell words without your assistance, look at other brands/versions. This one seems more geared to being cute (saying hello to your child when they turn it on) and offering games for them to play. It doesn't do as much to help young, enthusiastic writers to broaden their vocabulary and enhance their spelling ability. I'm going with a better version because this one is more of a toy than a tool.

I personally haven't used the dictionary, but my 10 year old some really likes it. It was "recommended" for each child in his fourth grade class. I think the big thing that it does is show them how the word looks written in cursive. There were more expensive models, but this was the best for the money.

I did my homework on this one. I read the previous post about the lid being flimsy, so I was very careful when I recieved the item and snapped the lid on. It went on, then once it was opened the lid came right off, so I snapped it back on and noticed the little plastic piece that holds the lid on was snapped off. Mind you there are only 2 little plastic knobs for the lid, one on each side. If one side doesn't have it, then the lid won't stay on. My son was so excited to finally get it, that I figured hey it will be fine without the flimsy lid.(and yes the lid is a very thin plastic) In hindsight I should have sent it back right then and there, but in reading the previous post they said that their kids used it just fine without the lid. Today is day 2, my son came home with it in his backpack went to use it for his homework and the screen was cracked!(obviously from not having the lid and a book or something heavy smashing it) He was so bummed! I was so bummed, and now I kick myself for not sending the darn thing back as soon as the lid broke off right out of the box!
On the bright side he really used it, and I loved not havng to spell every word for him. Now if I can just find one that has a quality hard lid that doesn't break off! I'm sure the spelling/dictionary/games are all the same, but the trick is finding one that is well made!

My kids (5-10) use this frequently when they are not sure how to spell a word (you type in how you think it is spelled and if your wrong it will give you the correct spelling) They also like the tic tac toe. The only problem we have is some words are not there. My daughter was studying for the 5th grade spelling bee and I would say about 1/3 of the words she was studying could not be found in the dictionary. I am coming on now to find a more advanced dictionary. For the price this is a great value.

I bought the speller on the advice of my daughters 4th grade teacher because she was having trouble spelling. I would definetly reccomend it. It was not hard for my 10 yr old to learn how to use it and it has made checking her spelling a lot easier. While it may not always find the right word, the fact that it helps her get the right word at least 75% of the time is way more then I expected given how far off her spelling is. It even has a few spelling games in it, which she enjoys and so she takes it with her for entertainment on trips and in restaurants.

I bought this dictionary for my 3rd grade daughter to help her on spelling. The excitement was gone in 30 minutes after not being able to find more than 3 words in 10 searches. Many easy words can't be found, and most of word descriptions are so simple that she still can't really understand the full meaning of the words.
The calculator feature in the dictionary is pretty much useless.
She likes to play Hangman with me, but we always have to add the word to the word list, and ask Hangman to get the word from the list.
There is also a game called fun with Spanish and French..it was interesting to look the sentences in Spanish & French once, and that is about it.
The screen resolutoin is very low, so the letters are quite jaggy.
I am very disappointed with this particular dictionary. Maybe I should try the other more expensive models.

My 4th grader needed a spell checker for school, I chose this one for two reasons - 1) it shows samples of cursive for any word you enter, and 2) it was by far the cutest one I could find! The whole family has had a great time playing with it. And I think it has really helped my 4th grader to care more about spelling!

I've had one of these for over 14 years now, when they first started coming out. My brother has the original one I got freshman year in high school, and I have one I got junior year. This item is still very much the same as it was 14 years ago, just a little sleaker and smaller. Very easy to use, turn on, type the word, and search. It still has thesaurus and games, and as reviews below mention, occasionally still brings up entertaining words if you are as bad of phonetic speller as I am. This item is excellent to save you from digging through pages of a dictionary in search of just a spelling, and not the definition. A must if you can't even get the first 3 letters square like I do looking up words. Most of these models will also play hangman with you, amongst a few other games to try and work with your spelling skills. The spelling ace my brother still has actually contained many definitions. These little machines are worth their weight in gold for highschoolers and college folks writing paper, even with spell check on the computer.