Customer Reviews

LeapFrog Tag Junior Book Pal - Purple

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Ok, first off a comparison to it's big papa, the Tag Sr., which I also own. After the comparison I will list a brief pro's and con's list for the people who just NEED to skim through a review:

Regarding the reader itself (the pen thing on the Tag and the little alien thing on the Tag Jr.):
- Tag Jr. is way better for little hands, it's little "head" fits perfectly into my 2yr old's tiny grip.
- It seems to be a lot sturdier, my son has drops it once and again onto our (carpeted) floors and this little guy just rolls with the punches, literally.
- The Tag has a little pencil-like thingie at the bottom that activates the camera, whereas the Tag Jr. has a small circular butt, overall it helps make it much more resilient to falls and the accidental (or are they?) "slams-it-down" on the book mishaps during particularly exciting pages.
- The purple one is really pink, so keep that in mind if you're particular about your boy playing with pink toys (also, get your head outta the gutter).

PROS:
- It's a great fit for little hands.
- Feels sturdy and durable.
- The camera activator is much better designed for the coordination-impaired.
- There's a list of child names on the Tag Software so the reader can greet your child by name each time you turn the device on-off.

CONS:
- Chews through batteries! The manual says not to use rechargeables, but I use them anyway, it's just a battery hog!
- This one is PINK not PURPLE, I don't mind, but maybe you don't like pink.
- You need to take off the battery cover to reach the usb slot.
- The buttons are not as easy to reach when your child is holding the device and forgets to turn it on, so he will wind up banging it on the book confused until you find the small groove the button is in.
- It seems to not work if it's not somewhat level with the book surface.

Regarding the books:
- The Tag Sr. books are regular paper books, so they tear up pretty easily. Now the Tag Jr. books are meant to be used by little ones! They're made from sturdy cardboard and (some) have pretty, vibrant colors.
- The activities on the Tar Sr. are usually started by pressing on the specific "buttons" on each page, on the Tag Jr. they are streamlined into the experience, for example, if you touch the same object a couple times it may prompt you to find and "click" on another page in the book.
- The Jr. books seem (with reason, I guess) to be much more simplistic than the Tag Sr. ones, but that means you also get much less content and much more repetition on the Jr.

Pros:
- The books are made out of durable cardboard with (sometimes) vibrant and colorful imagery.
- The stories are more simplistic and easier for a small child to get "useful learnin'" out of.
- The activities are built into the reading experience and start when the same spot in the page is tapped in repetition, they seem fun, but my child just ignores them.

Cons:
- The activities are built into the reading experience. Yes, this is also a con, because sometimes my kid just wants a sound to play again when he touches the same image twice, as it stands, he needs to cycle through the 3 or 4 different sounds (be them activities or spoken descriptions of the objects he is touching).
- The books are small, this ain't entirely a bad thing, but it unfortunately means there's less things to do on each page.
- There's too much repetition and some of the cool sound effects are hard to find and activate.

Nice to haves:

- It would be nice to have the ability to "record" a couple sentences or songs from the books in mommy's voice, which doesn't seem like would be THAT much of a problem to implement by the support team. (Yes, I'm talking to you guys! Stop playing with your Halos and your plastic guitars and get working on this!)
- Get those popular Tag Sr. brands on this thing! Toddlers enjoy Pixar too, you know.

At 22 mos. my daughter would sit for half an hour at a time and just flip through books, so she rec'd this b-day present early. Great decision! Now instead of just flipping pages, the books engage her and are encouraging learning. I heard her saying some of her alphabets with the ABC book! She loves this toy and asks for it frequently, not to mention it's compact size makes it great for road trips and for restaurant waiting.

It's durability is being greatly tested and so far so good! We've had it a month and it's been dropped multiple times on our wooden floors and slammed on the pages frequently while learning the concept of gentle. I would highly recommend the case for convenience. It's so much easier to carry than loose books and a small Jr. I also store him in it when not in use which keeps everything together and handy. Highly recommend this product if your child loves books; Tag Jr. enhances that experience.

My 2.5 year old daughter has had the Leap Junior for less than a month (we got it after Christmas because she kept swiping her big sisters Tag Pen) and it was dead today when we were getting packed up for a day trip. It's not the batteries. I just put a brand new pair of Duracell's into it. Still no dice. I had my boyfriend look at it and see if he could figure it out. Nothing.

There's no reason why it shouldn't work. It's not seen any more abuse from my daughter than would be expected. She smacks it down onto the books harder than she likely should, and it's been tossed a few times in the living room. This toy was designed for toddlers and preschoolers so I would expect it to handle it.

I of course failed to keep the receipt, so we'll have to see what LeapFrog customer service has to say in the morning (their CS is M-F EST business hours). If nothing can be done I think I will get my daughter the regular Tag Pen as I had planned on to begin with since the board books work with the Tag Pen.

As for the Tag Junior as a toy my daughter is thrilled with it (hence my urgency to fix it). Her Ki-Lan and Dora book have seen hours of face time in the short time we've had it. I LOVE how I can see what pages she's been preferring, and how long she's spent on each book. Though I think don't that it's as challenging as my daughter needs. It's still decent since it keeps her entertained when needed and can be easily taken along in the car.

I purchased two of these, for my 2-1/2 year old twins, because they both love to play with my older daughter's TAG Reader. They love their Tag Jr.'s and use them every day. We took them with us on a road trip, along with a few books, and it kept them quite busy until they fell asleep. They are easy enough for them to turn on and off all by themselves and they are very easy for them to use with the books. I would definitely purchase these as gifts for other children of the same age. They are great tools for reinforcing concepts (e.g. alphabet, shapes, colors, numbers, etc...)

My 2 year old DD loves this toy! She has thrown it and it still works. It's very cute. Love the books too.

I got this for my daughter when she was 27 months old, and at first she just wanted to turn it on and off a dozen times every time she took it out, but once I got her to keep it on, she was thrilled with it. It's the perfect size for her little hands and so far very durable. She gets excited every time Tag Junior says her name, and she feels like a big girl because she can "read" all by herself. She has five books (the most the system can hold at once) and two months after receiving the Tag Junior, she still happily reads all five books at each sitting. She'll be getting 10 new books for Christmas (thanks to an AWESOME deal at Toys R Us--the books are usually quite expensive), so I'm interested to see how she'll do with the limit of five when she has more than five to choose from. I've already downloaded all the audio files, so I'm ready for a lot of quick switches if necessary.

For anyone who is hesitant because you have to connect the Tag Junior to the computer to download the audio, don't be. It's very easy and it walks you through it. Having the system say the child's name is a really cool feature, too. I really recommend the Tag Junior case sold separately--totally worth a little extra money.

Oh, and somebody mentioned that the purple system is really pink. I don't know if they've changed the color since that review was written, but mine is definitely purple.

We got this toy as a "new trip toy" for our 2 year old daughter. It seemed like a great toy in theory. Encourage a love for reading and books in a toy that is compact and easy to take along... She played with it a few times on the trip, but that was about it. She likes books in general, but likes it even more when she sits in my lap so I can read to her. I know it is geared toward toddlers, but maybe it is too soon to spark a real interest in this toy, or maybe she just knows she can usually get me to read to her instead. Had I known it was not going to be a big hit, I probably would have passed on this toy. But every child is different and you don't know until you try.

My then 2 1/2 year old got this as a gift. She loves her older sister's Tag Reader Pen, so we thought this would work for her little hands. We've had it for over a half a year, and it's getting dusty.

While the concept for the chunky reader is great because it would fit in her little hand, I must warn any parent who also has an older child who already owns the pen. The younger child doesn't want what is different from her sibling's. My daughter will still want to use the the pen, instead of the bulbous Jr. thing.

And I also think that the Tag pen is easier to manipulate for all ages. The Tag Jr. reader is not easy to use for clumsy young hands because the reader device has to be perfectly flat against the book for it to recognize the picture/words. My 6 year old, who is very adroit, was even having difficulty with the Jr. the other day (she was trying to entice her little sister to use her own reader, so she could get hers back... to no avail.) The pen is much smoother and more sensitive, making it easier for my toddler to manipulate. Even without older siblings, since little ones like to emulate mommy or daddy, working a "pen" that looks like a big person's is way more fun.

The books for Tag Jr. are geared to 2-4 year olds, yes. But the regular Tag books are just as entertaining for this age. Even if he/she can't really understand the total concept of the book, the pictures make neat noises and educate by telling parts of the story in other ways. The little one can grow into the regular Tag pen and books. My now 3 year old thinks her sister's books are more interesting. These books are also fun to "read" with your child, and a bonding way for you to teach him/her how to work the pen and book.

As a whole, I think that the Tag Pen is a better value for any age, and will be used longer with little ones. If your little one doesn't understand the concept of paper books and rips them, I would supervise his/her reading for a while. That is where the Jr. books are better geared for this age because they are board books.

I got this for my daughter when she was younger and my son recently got it for Christmas and he loves it. I personally love everything that LeapFrog puts out

Christmas gift for our 3 year old daughter. She enjoys her Tag Junior and plays with it happily. I like that it is integrated online with LeapWorld. where the kids go online to see their reading progress, get prizes and play game. The Tag can also be personalized online for your child. Renae is using and enjoying her gift and that makes us happy. Probably would buy regular Tag for her if I had to do it again. LeapFrog TAG Reading System - Green