Customer Reviews

Learning Resources Gears! Gears! Gears! Illuma Bot FX

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

My son got this for his eighth birthday. First of all, it is not a "Robot" by any stretch of the imagination - you can only make it go forwards and backwards - and that very slowly. You have no control over the "moveable" arms or head and you can not make it turn or do anything really. Several of the things you build according to the instructions don't do anything except sit there and blink - not all that exciting. It took adult strength to get many of the poorly fitting pieces together. On the larger constructions the gears mesh so badly that most of your limited battery power is sucked up trying to turn them all - and the strain inevitably causes the poorly fitting wheels to fall off. Did anybody bother to "kid test" this thing before it wound up at all the "educational toy" outlets? I'm guessing not. Well, here is the lesson we learned - even a so-called "educational toy" can be a complete rip-off.

We gave this to our 6 year old for his birthday and it was broken before bedtime. The base piece that is the remote control and wheels etc. was not made very well and now he cannot make any of the featured robots. He has other Gears sets so he can use the peices for other projects, but this one is very disappointing- especially for the money.

Unfortunately, I too have to agree with the other reviews of this toy. Don't buy it, hands down. It shouldn't be purchased for less than 7 years if you do take the chance. The gears are entirely too hard to put together and once they are together, you can't get them apart without adult help. The antenna broke within the first day and for the $50 it cost, it's absolutely ridiculous. However, the idea is wonderful - kids love to play with this guy but he just isn't durable. This toy DEFINITELY needs to go back to the drawing board and constructed of more durable materials and made to withstand the playtime for which it was created. Right now, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. It needs to go back for a refund!

Unfortulately have to agree with both previous reviewers. Toy lasted about one day in my home before the antenna broke off the base unit, rendering the robot useless. Pieces are hard to fit together and require an adult to build the robot. Also, the non-replaceable battery within one of the flashing pieces burned off within a day. The toy certainly had a huge wow factor right out of the box and my boy was thrilled with the present. He still has fun with the other pieces making the gears turn etc.

My son recieved this as a gift for his 5th birthday. As the other reviewers mentioned the toy falls apart on day one. Several pieces broke off after the first week. The problem is now my son absolutely loves this thing and I am stuck with constantly explaining to him why it is broken and why certain parts don't work, etc. I have glued several of the pieces together to prevent them from falling apart when he uses the remote to make it move. They definitely did not play test this thing well. It's too bad because kids love things with lights and gears and this has it all. If only it would stay in one piece for more than 20 seconds. The instructions are also very complicated as is the building process, so you will have to help any child with this toy. I would not buy this toy, and if you got it as a gift like me, then get the superglue ready.

This toy is too difficult to put together for a 7 year old. It only moves forward and back and the gears don't move together smoothly at all. The site I bought this from was an educational toy site, and did not have reviews on its products. If I had read the reviews as on this site, I would have seen it got 1.5 stars out of 5. I would like to give it a 0. I will return it to the vendor and read reviews next time. Don't buy this. I'm sure there is something better out there.

My son got this a year ago for his 6th birthday. He's very careful, smart & follows instructions well. The robot was fairly disappointing. Most kids will lose interest with it if they only build the guy on the box.

Not one to worry, we used the parts with our other G!G!G! sets to make all kinds of wonderful things. He's been using the motorized base, which only goes back and forth, to power all sorts of contraptions that don't necessarily "roll." But today he dropped it a very short fall, and the antenna/IR receiver snapped.

I came to look for parts or to replace - as I said he is extremely good with his toys. However, I can't see buying another whole kit, and this easily broken base isn't available on its own. This is the ONLY G!G!G! set we have that has a WIRELESS remote. The others have wired ones.

It's not a toy for most.

I normally do not review products but feel compelled to do so due to the tremendous disappointment this recent Christmas gift generated. The lights on the IllumaBot do not work at all even though the activation tabs were still in tact and the the box was completely shrink wrapped indicating it had never been opened before purchase. The lights were one of the major attractions to this particular product. Additionally, when the robot is activated, it is a very jerky movement with some of the pieces falling off even though each part was carefully and securely attached during the building and again after the parts fell off during activation. After contacting the manufacturer I was told to return the product at my expense and they would ship a new product to me. I'm very disappointed in the product as well as the manufacturer's response. My 6 year old grandson who received this for Christmas was also extremely disappointed . I am debating about shipping the product back vs. losing the $50.00 initially invested.
My grandson says "do not buy one of these".

We were excited when my son received this toy as a gift since we enjoyed our other Gears, Gears, Gears set. However, this toy is very frustrating for both kids and parents. My son received this almost a year ago, and when I pulled it out today, I now remember why we didn't play with it all year. After getting the "robot" assembled, it quickly falls apart. The wheels fall off within a few seconds of driving the toy. The control also fails after a few minutes of play. It seems that if I take out the batteries and reinsert it solves the problem and the remote control works again, but it is quite frustrating. So between the robot falling apart (the wheels, head, and arms do not stay on correctly), and the control not working, it is a terrible toy. Every few minutes I am "fixing" the toy. I do not recommend you purchase this product. We've been very disappointed.

I bought this for my 5 year old grandson for Christmas. He loved it!! He was able to follow the picture instructions to build and needed very little help from an adult. A couple of the plastic parts were a tight fit and needed adult strength to snap together. Overall it was a very good choice.