Customer Reviews

Oregon Scientific Smartglobe V3 (Colors May Vary)

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

 

 

This Globe has been working since we purchased in March (2010). It takes a few times to get the download to take. So be patient. I may have downloaded the software several times and repeated the online update several times too. It takes a long time, but I believe this is due to how much information the globe has to download on the first time.

Also, is globe is PC only. NOT compatible with Macs (more computers here are Mac). So I wish it was both PC and Mac compatible.

It is set on level one (easiest) but you can set it to harder level. I bought primarily for my children to use to learn geography (not usually something focused on in the US). The kids are age 5, 3 & 2. Because it is a computer/electronic toy, I don't usually let the children use it unsupervised. I am afraid they might be too rough with the pen when they touch the globe. I remind the children to be "gentle" with the globe. That's the only reason I ranked with 4 stars, but it is kind of like a computer.

I am very impressed with the amount of information that the globe (and books,and poster also work with the pen for history, flags and more) provides names of presidents, national anthems, official languages, current events & even does many things in Spanish. After the first download in March, when I touched current events that week Obama had signed Health Care Reform into law and that was on the globe's current events button for the US (it was the same week!). Also, my husband is from Nigeria and the globe already had the new president's name (Goodluck Johnathan). That was a VERY recent change at the time.

Last night a friend who is a third grade teacher came over and I showed it to her. She said she wanted one for he classroom because it would really help. She was concerned about the costs. I paid $117 for ours from another seller than the one featured today. It is well worth the $117 and maybe more. But for under $100 (today's cost) it is a STEAL.

By the way, we used the globe during the World Cup (international soccer/football) to find where the countries were on the globe and played their anthems, etc. Also, we have friends from India, the Philippines, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Netherlands, etc. & use the globe to show where they are from to the children. Additionally, we went on a cruise this summer, when we got back we located all the ports of call (Jamaica, Mexico, Cayman Islands) on the map and dance to the music related to the country or region.

My young kids know more about geography than I did when I graduated college and I have learned so much more since we've gotten it.

I would recommend this product and would buy more things from Oregon Scientific. I think they make and update the product well.

One final note, I make sure I keep batteries in the pen and the globe up to date.

**** Watch out when you remove the globe, it is very easy to think you are missing pieces. Almost threw away the AC cord****

I purchased this only to find out the hard way that the company still employs mainland Chinese politics. Namely, Taiwan is not labeled on the globe at all it is instead called out as Pacific Ocean a real loss. I wrote to customer service and they provided feeble reasons for their decision to omit Taiwan and they will not be changing that in future software updates. I understand that this is not an issue on the Intelliglobe. I would have returned the globe were it not for a jigsaw puzzle of packaging that was impossible to re-assemble after I unpacked it. Likely the only advantage for this product over intelliglobe is the fact that this product has a built-in table containing a pen activated map of the U.S. Now for the disadvantages that you would bypass if you purchase the Intelliglobe.
1. Intelliglobe has a bigger globe 12" instead of 9"
2. Intelliglobe features tactile raised elements for mountains
3. Intelliglobe has much more memory in the pen 1gB compared to 32mB
4. Intelliglobe seems to provide future updates freely whereas this model requires a $15 per year subscription after the first year

The Pros-

1. Very educational and not just for the kids.
2. Multiple levels of learning including games etc...
3. Both my children of 3yrs and 5yrs enjoy playing with it.
4. cosmetically looks good. Doesn't look cheap.

The Cons-

1. Missing or incorrect information about some of the locations. A couple examples are:

- Taiwan doesn't exist in the software. If you touch the island you hear "Pacific ocean"

- Kashmir doesn't exist in the software. If you touch Kashmir you hear "the Islamic Republic of Pakistan"

2. It is difficult to accurately point the Pen on smaller targets such as capital cities which is part of one of the games. During the Find the Capital game you will point at the correct city but will get it wrong because it doesn't register.

Overall it is a decent educational toy but seems to be programmed with chinese politics and not western views.

A wonderful gift for my 11 year old daughter, we all spent hours exploring the Globe and the fun keeps going. One of the best gifts for someone who dreams of traveling all over the world. Great for your imagination. Highly recommend.

We purchased a previous version of this globe from Costco. It immediately broke when we tried to download the software and use the AC/DC plug in (WITH the batteries installed...who doesn't do that?!). Contacted the company and after 2 weeks...finally got an RMA # to return our broken globe. The very same day, this globe arrived at our house. Clearly, the company knows the older version had problems since they mailed the replacement before I got the broken one out the door. This globe DID NOT come with an AC/DC adapter. Makes me wonder if it will cause this globe to crash and burn too...I'm NOT going to try any AC/DC connection until I read more reviews. Has anyone has success with the AC/DC adapter and the software working??? For now, sticking to the batteries and the loaded version of the software...with errors included. I'll contact the company...again, about the lack of AC/DC adapter in the packaging. If you are buying this for the first time, just be careful. READ the instructions BEFORE using it.

Smart Globe started working sporadically then stopped working completely. Called Oregon Scientific and was told if you update it online or plug it in with batteries installed, it can cause problems. We have done neither to the globe. O.S. only answer was they would have new pens available this summer for around $69. Only had globe 4 months, so don't buy unless you want to throw away your money and then some more when the pen stops working.

This is a very stylish design and is so educational. Every touch of the pen gives new educational information. We have not fully played with every function there are so many to choose from. I highly recommend this product and anticipate more use for geography and world history as my son ages.

I wanted to LOVE this. In fact, my entire family did for many, many months. My son got it for Christmas last year and spent a great deal of time playing with it. Then I tried to update the Smart Pen. I would've NEVER attempted to do so if I'd known disaster was about to strike. Wow. The software CRASHED our computer TWICE, but not before erasing everything that was already loaded on the Smart Pen. Now it's totally useless. My son is very upset and we're stuck with a broken toy. If I'd wanted a globe to just look at, I could've paid a lot less than $130. After researching on the Internet, I've found this has happened to people more often than not. Aren't there consumer laws against selling stuff like this?

Cannot get it too work. After update it would not work at all. Company will not answer e-mails or help. Terrible product and service.

I bought this as a gift for my 5 year old son. It would be great, if it worked. Out of the box it was OK for a while, although we couldn't get it to work with the outlet (only batteries). Then we went to update the pen software - bad idea. It wiped out all the info on the pen, and it won't reload. Now it's a big plastic ball. I'm no software idiot either, I tried downloaded newer versions etc, but nothing worked. I'm returning it (I would love a working one, but I see other reviews with the same problem, so refund for me).