Customer Reviews

FLY™ Pentop Computer

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I was DESPERATE for a birthday present for my hard to buy 11 year old son! Hated to spend this kind of money on a present before Christmas but I was afraid he was tired of getting the usual LEGO'S, Video games...etc! I purchased this knowing NOTHING about it. The store clerk said, "we sell alot and never get any back!" The day before his birthday, I took a chance and purchased this. IT WAS NOT A MISTAKE!

The unit is a PEN that actually writes. You MUST have the special paper which is 9.99 per notebook. Caution your children that this paper is for the Fly Pen use ONLY!

The pen works with a AAA battery. I did not purchase the charger. You will want the speaker though.

This package gives you everything you need to familiarize yourself with the product but buy another notebook and a speaker!

You will want to open this one early and spend some time familiarizing yourself with it before giving it to your child. The functions take practice and patience! DO Purchase a Fly Notebook and practice with this so you can start your child off correctly. I did this so I did not have to mess with the "start-up" kit that comes with this package. With practice and patience, I found this to be easy to figure out..and I DO NOT consider myself to be a technology buff. We busy moms like things quick and easy!

You turn the pen on, and touch the point on the icons that are on the bottom of the (fly notebook) sheets of paper...(these notebooks are sold separately). The pen will give you menu options, similiar to "phone menu choices". YOu select your choice by touching the icon. It pretty much guides you through the process. It will ask you to write letters, (usually the initials of what you want to play) and circle them. For example "Fly Tones" you write FT and circle it. It will guide you through the process of drawing your keyboard. "draw nine vertical lines", "connect them at the bottom", for example.

This DOES take practice and patience. My 11 year old has spent quite a bit of time with the instruction manual and the pen attempting to "figure it out." He is that kind of kid though. My soon to be 8 year old wants one for Christmas and I will have to help him learn to use it.

This is Certainly NOT a toy and is NOT an out of the box and instant fun thing. I can see it having quality educational value over time. I have purchased the spelling and math packs (29.99 a pop..WHEW...) and will review them when they are opened. So far, this pack has been enough.

This comes with earbuds and a small plastic case.

This package with a AAA battery, the additional speaker, a notebook, patience, practice, and time are all you need to get started with the Fly Pen.

I recommend it despite the "priceyness" of the actual unit AND the accessories because as with MOST "Leap Learning" tools, their abilities are far beyond what the item exposes with the first couple of uses. Like most parents, I have never been disappointed with this company's products. I am amazed at this product's abilities with my and my sons limited exposure to it over this past weekend.

Finally, I LOVE how this FORCES you to write neatly AND follow-directions! This is perfect for those middle school children who are still in "primary-land" as far as their writing skills are concerned.

Great product from the folks at "LEAP"!

Rosemary

Jameson Thottam on a great gift thats not just for kids

My wife and I purchased the Leapfrog Fly Pentop Computer for our cousin as a Christmas gift this year. I have to say that it is impressive. I find it difficult to believe this gadget markets toward children rather than adults. It would take only minor tweaking to make this unit into a fully functional piece of portable hardware equal to a PDA for adults. Marketed age on the box states it is for children 8 years old and older. However, I have to admit that it is hard to figure out who likes this device more cousin, or her mother.

Perks and Problems ^Jameson Thottam^
Like most gadgets, it has highs and lows with perks and problems. Overall, any child will enjoy the Fly but I believe academically gifted children will find it more enjoyable than the average child who is more into sports rather than math, science, or reading. The musical games will hold any child's attention but beyond that, I can't say for certain. My cousin is in the academically gifted group. She would rather read a book, play a math game, or solve a puzzle than play outside. It is simply her nature. She does not fall into the athletic group.

The Technology ^James Thottam^
The Fly Pentop Computer relies on an optical scanner. It scans everything written on the special Fly paper. It records, provides playback, and can translate languages in addition to working out math problems with a hand-drawn calculator. The computer costs approximately $99 and comes with the follow:

One Fly Pentop Computer
Earbud headphones (Great device!)
Plastic Case
Fly Launch Pad Guide
17 Games
35 pages of special Fly paper
3 interactive Fly cards
1 silver face plate (other interchangeable colors available)
2 rechargeable batteries
1 charging station

The computer comes with a cartridge to allow play straight out of the box. The interactive guide walks you through setting up the pen including time, date, volume control, and many others. The Fly paper allows immediate game play and educational play. For example, you can draw a calculator just like the face of every calculator on the market and then tap the pen tip to the numbers, math signs, and then equal sign to get your answer. Draw a set of piano keys or a drum set to begin playing music from the paper. Or, open the interactive guide to play with a multitude of musical instruments where you compose your own sounds, record them, and play them again and again. The musical card section offers a sort of musical Simon-says game. The computer will begin playing musical sounds and then let you copy them. Each level becomes more difficult than the previous one. This enhances memory skills with music while allowing free musical expression. Write out important dates to have the computer remind you later. Play games with friends with their own Fly pens. The possibilities are endless especially with new cartridges called Flyware on the way. Encourage penmanship with the Fly computer. It has difficulty reading sloppy handwriting so improved penmanship is important. Many compare the Fly pen to a child-size PDA that has educational and outright fun games that teach as they provide enjoyment. The learning curve is not difficult. Simply tap the M on the special paper or draw the letter M in a circle and tap it with the pen tip to get access to the menu commands. Follow the prompts to be on your way to calculating math, playing games, composing music, and making scheduling dates.

Accessories are still there ^Jameson L Thottam^
Accessories can become expensive over time but once obtaining other modules, it evens out. The modules for Fly include Fly Journal, Fly through Spanish, Fly through Spelling, Fly Games, Fly Ball, Fly Ball Expansion Pack, Fly through Math Multiplication and Division, Fly through Tests 6-8 th grade Math, Science, Social Studies, and two sizes of Fly Notebook along with Fly Paper.

Modules ^Jameson Thottam^
Fly modules run approximately $8 through around $30. The ink refills are a 2-pack for around $8. Fly Catcher Paper, 35 sheets with Fly Pentop, costs around $5 for 3 pads of 25 sheets. Fly offers a Batman module strictly for fun for about $30. Additional extras include a nicer pen case, a carrying bag with plenty of space for the charger and pen along with cartridges and paper. Additional face plates come in four different colors and are relatively cheap to purchase.

Saving the Best for Near Last ^Jameson Thottam^
The best part about the Fly Pentop Computer and the accessories is the fact that many local department stores carry them in stock. Leapfrog does not force parents to special order accessories or replacement items through expensive catalogs, online stores, or telephone orders. A stop at the local department store such as Walmart, Target, K-Mart, and others saves time and shipping costs.

The modules as well as the games are educational-related; any child that plays with the computer pen will undoubtedly improve in academics.

Pitfalls ^Jameson Thottam^
The Fly Pentop Computer does have some downfalls or areas where improvement would be beneficial. The pen itself is a bit heavy but not so much that it is too heavy on the top end. In a way, this is a good thing since it makes the unit larger and less apt for a child to loose it. If redesigned for adults, a thinner, sleeker version would be best.

Fixes ^Jameson Thottam^
I wish the pen could compute on regular paper. My cousin is an avid writer so she goes through paper rather quickly especially with the Fly Journal. Her mother and I have purchased two of the replacement Fly Catcher Paper and one extra Fly Journal.

The pen on and off button is a but cumbersome. It has an on/off switch but also has a switch to engage the pen. This is really no biggie but it would be nice if both turned on at the same time it clicks into pen mode. So far, the ink holds up well but I plan to purchase refills within the next week.

The pricing of the modules could stand to come down a bit too. Perhaps that will happen as the Fly Pentop becomes more popular.

Jameson Thottam

It's unfortunate a few posters feel the need to bash this product, it is obvious that they haven't used the product. Get a life. Here is my review:

After reading about the Fly over the last several months, I had to go buy one just to satisfy my curiousity. I was first struck by the weight, I thought it would be much heavier and clumsy to use. But that is not the case - well done. Then I "tapped" through the initial settings card, and was impressed that it was recognizing the areas that were tapped. Immediately you are left thinking "how does this work?"

From there I wanted to check out the letter and word recognition. I wrote a letter, and it was announced back. Again, scratching head, "how'd they do that?" That was fine and all, but what I thought was more interesting were the game and educational sheets that were included. There is a map of the United States, and you can tap on any state and have the state or capitals aanounced. Games are "built-in" to this map, for instance you are told to tap on the correct state after a city is announced. If I tapped on the incorrect state, the FLY would say "try 200 miles northeast". Thought that was cool.

In addition to the map, there are crossword puzzles, quizzes, calculator, other puzzles, music games, weird sounds, schedulers, etc.
I didn't realize all this came with the FLY, and I was sort of blown away by the power of this pen at that time. My mind started to realize that there are numerous possibilities and uses for this device which will evolve over time.

Before trying out the FLY I was sort of skeptical, since it isn't your normal computer with a screen and keyboard, with all interaction being audio. But I was surprised to find myself immersed in the environment. This type of interaction completely makes sense for a range of applications such as those included with this pen.

My three year old (soon to be four) watched me and then started using it. He was very excited about it, and can only play with some of the applications right now. I have seen some reviews say it may be hard to use, but that is far from the truth. The kids will have no problems. If my three year old had no problems tapping on sounds, drums, countries to hear national anthems, then anyone can use this.

To sum up my review: Excellent job done, my hats off to the designer and all those responsible for taking this idea all the way. I'm looking forward to future software applications and to my child getting older!

like alot of other people, i thought the fly pen was going to be reaLLY COOL. WELL IT IS! but, just the fly pen only comes with so much. the fly pen comes with the special paper itneeds to work, but only thirty five pages. It's really cool, except that it's to expensive to buy some of the stuff, especially scince you have to go out and buy more paper every once and a while. you have to buy that, then the extra cratdriges, more paper, and it ends up costing maybe $350.00 to get the journal and the expansion pack, along with all the paper you need for a year. and even with that it could get boring fast. would be much better if it wasn't so expensive to buy everything you need.

This is a great toy. Along with all the other academic things it can teach you, it also teaches you to write neatly!!! I have my own laptop and FLY works just as well as a computer. Because it's so light, you can easily carry it around without feeling cheap. My homework gets done about ten times faster than without it. The only bad thing about it is its very expensive. My family has plenty of money but still 100 dollars they are out of their minds! The cartriges cost a lot and so do the charger, the headphones, and all the other accessories. The pen writes in ink so you have to buy tons of paper for it and it adds up! I love music and I love being able to record music that I make. Its like having a recording studio on a piece of paper! Drawing a calculator is cool but sometimes if you draw a box it says draw a larger box so you draw another box and it still says draw a larger box over and over again untill it takes up like the whole paper and then you can't even use that so you just wasted a piece of paper. And the games it comes with, you CAN reuse them because the only writing required on the paper for most of them is pulling the pen across the strip on the paper and that is not hard. I didn't even need the instruction manual I am saving it in case something happens and my mom needed to look at the warranty guidelines but FLY is easy to use! Its self explanatory all you need to do is tap on a FLYcon at the bottom and keep tapping it for menu options then when you like the option just tap the check mark. The battery is easy to install but the one it came with only lasted a few days for me. Luckily I had tons from the ChatNow thing because I returned them (they don't work). And another reveiw said that it will make you really popular if that is the only reason you want this then don't buy it just try being nice to people.

[...]

In any event, I read the comments and many of them say how expensive it is. Well, I bought one for my son and let me tell you, it is not nearly as expensive as the iPOD he wants or the Xbox he wants. It ranks up there in terms of top gifts for kids. So, if you are worried about spending too much, buy the pen instead of the iPOD people!!!!

The games and things are fun, but what I found really valuable is the spelling module. I spend a lot of time working with my son on spelling for school spelling tests and the FLY pen makes it fun and uses his words for his class.

So, in summary:
Fun - YES
Expensive - No, have you seen the XBOX prices and what about the prices for add'l games.
Cheap - Also No
Educational - Definitely

I have to give it 5 stars.

Bought this for my daughter's 10th birthday. She wanted it very much and I thought it would be such a hit. Well initially it was, but it's in the playroom, sitting on it's charger, where it's been for several days now. I wanted to make sure she would have things do with it, so I bought flygames, the journal and the speaker as well. She did get a big kick out of it at first and did some of the activties in the games book. The pen works very well and she had no problems getting it to work. The games book requires you to draw in it with the pen's ink, so you cannot reuse the games and I haven't seen other versions of the game book, so once it's used then what??? She wants the spanish translator for Christmas which isn't cheap and I'm not sure if I want to drop any more $$$ into this thing.

Just a note: My daughter is an avid reader, but is not as motivated to write, so maybe if your child loves to write/draw the Flypen would be better for them??

I bought this for my 11 year old daughter for Christmas. As much as we tried, we could not get it to work. After several emails back and forth, I sent it back to the company for repair or replacement. In one weeks time, we had a replacement which is working wonderfully. My daughter is really having alot of fun and is now spending her own money for some accessories and games.
5 stars for tech support
5 stars for a quick replacement
and so far, 5 stars for a great activity!
I think this is going to be awesome on long car rides.

I ordered this for my daughter for Christmas. She has dyslexia and I thought the voice feature would help her with her math homework. I opened it up and charged it up, read the directions and learned how to use it. It's under the tree right now. I'll add to this review after she plays with it a while and let you know how she likes it. I love it. I showed it to my husband who said, "How does it work?" he kept playing the drums and piano I had drawn and he kept saying "how does it work?" You can put reminders on this pen, add notes, play music, do math and you can even have it say a special message on start up. Anyway, I can't wait till Christmas so we can play with it together. I think she's going to love it. I'm glad I opened it up and got it all ready too. I hate reading instruction manuals on Christmas morning. More later.

January 7 2007
She really loves it and has a great time playing with it. She especially revels in all the vulgar noises emitted when she taps the stickers and special effects buttons. The pen also comes with a pre-made sound studio where you can create some wild rap, hip-hop type sounds and drive parents batty. Also there is a map with some familiar sounds (we have a leap frog globe) facts about the world and some simple games to play.

Parents should know that the charger only charges special Leap Frog batteries. So, while you can use other batteries with the pen, you cannot charge those other batteries with the charger. This is something I didn't realize when I purchased it. I think I would have skipped the charger knowing this, but now that we own it, it is convenient and has an extra battery all charged up and waiting, so I'm happy with it.

The built-in calculator is very helpful because my daughter often reads numbers backwards, but hearing the pen say them helps out a lot. Regular calculators with their square numbers in the display screen are confusing (digital clocks get her confused between 2's and 5's all the time.

The first real negative is that the pen talks too much sometimes. It has a lot of personality which is often fun, but distracting at other times. I think the pen would be better if there were not two people talking so much during the math problems. A few simple commands and comments are helpful, but too many jazzy sounds and useless phrases like "show me what you got!" are irritating after about problem 3. My daughter wants them to shut up because she is concentrating, so she turns off the pen and puts it down. There should be a little more definition between work-time and play-time in the programming. Surprisingly, she likes the clicking noises the pen makes when she writes letters. I think she is reassured that the pen is "getting it."

The fly math paper is great, but the cardboard bottom with the buttons, pokes her arms and gets in the way. A flap that runs up and down the side of the page, vertically or a few buttons actually printed onto the work page, would be very helpful. The location of the start problem, enter problem, yes, no and check problem buttons slows her down. The math hints and examples book are great and well done. The average student will probably be helped immensely. I didn't go through them with my daughter, as they would have overwhelmed her. Instead, I read through them and taught her to use the paper to do each type of problem. She enjoyed the multiplication quiz game and played it with me a couple of times with very little frustration. Another thing on the negative side: The Multiplication and Division cartridge does not include fractions, decimals and percentages, which Saxon teaches alongside skills such as long division. Some of her problems can't be worked out with the pen, causing a disruption in the flow of the work. This is an important consideration if you are interested in the math aspect. The pen itself comes with a calculator built in, and if you don't need step by step help with multiplication and division, the math cartridge is a waste of money because it is so limited.

The spelling cartridge offered a few more challenges, as my daughter's dyslexic handwriting came into play more. When she wrote a letter incorrectly or backwards, we could delete the letter, but where to re-write it? The instructions are not clear on this. It would be nice if the instructions clearer so we know where the correction should go. Perhaps Leap Frog should add a re-write box or a place to re-write a single letter? I ended up writing most of the spelling list in the boxes.

Another disappointment is I purchased her quite a few pads of paper to write on before I realized that the only things she could do on that paper are a few silly games, re-set the messages and record notes in the reminder and scheduler. The notebooks are basically not that useful. Yes, you can draw a keyboard, a calculator and drums etc., but those things are also pre-printed on special paper that comes with the pen. I'd like to see her doing her history or science or English homework in these notebooks, but basically, there are no other subjects she can do in them right now. One small notebook will go a long way until Leap Frog jumps in with other things that kids can write with the pen.

Leap Frog also has a writing cartridge, which I just found on their website today. When I get one, I'll add to this review. After visiting their website, I found they also have downloadable quizzes based on popular textbooks. You can print them on regular or fly paper. I haven't tried these out yet either because they start at 8th grade (my daughter is in 4th).

The rap style music and DJ studio is entertaining, but it would be so much more valuable to use the fly pen to learn music theory: reading notes, learning chords and scales, recognizing the sounds of all the instruments in the orchestra, writing and composing a melody on a staff and hearing that composition replayed would all be very beneficial. My daughter wants to read music, and using this pen to help her would be awesome. By the way the speaker definitely improves the music-making experience about 100 percent. The sound is much richer and fuller and everyone in the room can share in it.

These are just a few of the ideas that leap to my mind after playing with the pen for a while. I bet there are other parents out there with equally outstanding suggestions. I really think Leap Frog would be wise to continue improving this product; it could be a real life-saver for children with dyslexia. I can also see a big market for adults with reading difficulties, using this pen discretely with the ear buds.

My take on it, is buy it now for a kid who loves gadgets and needs a little boost to do homework more readily. If your kids are still a little young for it, wait. It may be that there will be improvements and more choices in the coming years and you will get an even better product. I hope Leap Frog hops to it!

No, it isn't cheap but it is really, really cool. I would NOT buy this for a young child but for those who know how to follow directions, it can be very fun as it has a lot of innovative features.

Kids can even draw a calculator and start using it on the special paper and it has lessons tied in to MOST major textbooks used in schools. Then there are the Fly games.

I would suggest some parental supervision at first so that the paper doesn't get wasted. Once the kis get the "ground rules" down, they are off and running and either playing games or enhancing their knowledge.

BUT BE AWARE - An x-box this is NOT. It is not full of advanced game technology. It is also NOT a computer. It is its own thing and for creative, curious kids that can be plenty fun.