As "spy watches" go, this one does a lot. All of its features are fun, some of them are practical, and some are gimmicks.
One of the fun features is the lie detector. It uses stress levels in the voice to determine if a person is telling the truth. After calibrating it with a true statement from a user, it examines subsequent statements and determines the probability that they are correct. Unlike a magic 8 ball, this feature can be surprisingly accurate. But it can also be way off. Although it can have trends that leave you surprised if it gets it wrong with some users, and overall is far more accurate than sheer chance, my son was a bit disappointed when he initially viewed it as a "real" lie detector. You have to approach this as a novelty feature and have fun with it.
The video and audio features are what you might expect from something in this price range. They are above "toy" quality, but not what you'd get from either a low end mainstream video or audio device. Still, the video quality will beat that of the video feature added on to many still cameras at twice the price. The quality fares well compared to competing "spy" products such as those from Eyeclops. It is far better than cheaper toys such as the watch from Wild Planet that claims to be the best spy watch ever. Perhaps this one deserves that title instead.
The voice changer can be fun. It's not a sophisticated tool, but works well enough that it can make a child sound like an old man, a boy sound like a young girl, or an adult sound like a child. It's enough fun that users will want to try it over and over again.
The USB charging works well but children should be reminded not to let the power drain and then leave it uncharged. After doing so for an extended period of time (perhaps a week or two) I plugged it into a USB port. Instead of starting up in a few seconds to under a minute, it took a few minutes. After the initial panic of seeing a blank screen for longer than expected, I was glad to see it come through. When it came up, the time needed to be reset, but it did not lose saved video data.
The array of features requires a multitude of buttons but is well thought out. It should be no problem for a pre-teen who is accustomed to playing video games, and will not leave a child asking you to read the instructions to figure it out.
The educational value comes partly from the product itself but can come much more from learning about the technology from a parent as the features are being used.
There are a variety of "spy gear" products on the market these days, and this one did not disappoint. I have not tried the company's other products but would feel comfortable doing so after using this one.
A nice thing about the watch is that it's even more fun when others are around to share the experience. That even includes parents, and having the opportunity to spend quality time with your child can be the best fun of all, especially when it's at their urging. The recommended age range is from 8-15 years. I think it's realistic to expect an eight year old to have a lot of fun with this, but with more hand holding. A pre-teen should be able to hit the ground running, and interest will probably wane for those aged 15 or above. It's important to know your child's needs and interests especially at the ends of the age range, and it could frustrate a child younger than eight.
One caveat, which is not the fault of the product itself, is that this sort of toy will start off being far more fun than many others, but is not necessarily something that will become an everyday play thing. It's a bit bulky to wear on the wrist regularly, and younger children, especially boys, do not routinely wear watches. But if your child feels like wearing this while not actively playing with it, and has a peer network with friends who keep asking about it, your child may become the envy of others.