Customer Reviews

Vtech - Kidizoom Digital Camera - Orange

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Pros: Easy to grip. Fun colors. Somewhat easy to use

Cons:Terrible pictures. Nonintuitive menus. No datestamp on pictures.

We were reluctant to buy this camera vs. a small Canon (SD100) on ebay for more less the same amount. Our three year old had already proved that she could handle a small Canon (and even a big one) but we decided to go for a camera built for toddlers.

Image quality is as described by other reviewers: super low dynamic range, low resolution, slow shutter, low light sensitivity and very noisy. Pictures come out blurred, motion blurred, burnt or underexposed and people are hard to recognize. Vtech could have significantly improved performance at negligible cost simply by using a CMOS sensor made this century.

Menu navigation is OK but could be made much more intuitive and accessible, specially for toddlers. Even I have to fumble around the menus to find the featurs/settings I need, such as configure memory cards.

One notable point that this camera is lacking is picture review. Anyone who has kids and cameras nows that the most fun a toddler can have is viewing the picture he/she just snapped, and running to his/her friends and showing them. This camera only holds the review for a few seconds (not long enough) and bringing it back up requires pressing about 5 buttons to navigate through the menus to the picture editor. Again, anyone who has kids and cameras should have known that a 'review' button would have been a favorite.

The two-eyed view finder is good for kids as they don't need to learn to close one eye as in a normal camera (no points for learning here). However, the live-view LCD has a considerable refresh lag which makes it hard to frame the shot.

The trigger response is very slow (~1s) making it impossible to shoot anything that moves. I also lacks a half-way point like real cameras (no points for learning here).

Interfacing with a computer is straight forward. Just hook up the USB cable and the camera appears as a removable drive (or two if you have a memory card in it). From there you can copy your images to wherever you want. It does work on Mac OS X (10.5.6 maybe earlier). What is lacking here is that the pictures do not have date information (like any other camera) so when I import the pictures into I photo they all look like they were taken on Jan 1st of 1969. This messes up my iPhoto library and makes it impossible to use date/time as a way to track the photographic progress of our toddler.

Overall it is a descent toy for young kids 4 and under. Older kids will enjoy and have more learning benefits with a small Elph or PowerShot from ebay. I'm giving it two stars because Vtech could have significantly improved value by improving the software interface and picture quality without any additional manufacturing cost.

After reading many reviews and testing several digital cameras designed for kids, I finally chose the Vtech - Kidizoom Digital Camera. I am extremely pleased with this camera. This camera is very durable and easy to use. My son, who just turned 3, was able to figure out how to use it in about 5 minutes and absolutely loves it. I downloaded about 500 photos the very first day and while he has slowed down a little, I have still downloaded over 2000 and he has nearly a full camera now. The quality is not professional grade, but he has still taken some nice photos. The camera also has Tic-tac-toe, Match, and a puzzle game, which have been very nice on long trips, especially since the camera has volume control. I have also been pleased with the low battery usage. I have only changed the batteries once, which I was pleasantly surprised about given the fact of how much my son uses the camera and the relative clarity of the color LCD screen. The software is easy enough to install and use, but not a big selling point for me. The camera also has the ability to change photos by adding in a Viking's helmet or framing with a winter scene that I have tried just to see how it worked, but my son has shown little interest in this function. My only complaint is that the camera only has a wrist strap and does not have a neck strap for when little hands get tired. Again, overall, I am very pleased with this camera and would recommend to anyone looking for a durable digital camera for a little photographer.

My kids saw this advertised on TV last year (2007) and added it to their Christmas list. I am skeptical about a lot of toys that are advertised on TV and am careful about what I spend my money on. I found this camera on sale and went ahead and bought it - it seemed like a good purchase and my kids love taking pictures with my camera.

This camera is one of the best purchases I have ever made for my kids. They fight over using it - this includes my 10-year-old boy who is mature enough to handle a "real" camera. My two girls (ages 7 & 5) love using it. The rubber grips make it easy for little ones to hold and truly protect it when it drops. They can plug the camera right into the TV and show everyone their creations. And, when we are traveling, the camera has a few video games that keep the kids busy in the car.

WORTH EVERY PENNY! The only problem - they fight over it. So, I'll be buying another one this Christmas so the girls can each have their own.

My children are 7 and 4. My 7 yo wanted the camera and loves it. It has alot of fun features and was very easy for her to learn how to use. This was well worth the money. My kids have had toys that they play with for just a short amount of time and then lose interest. This is not one of those toys. My daughter has been playing with it for almost a year now and my son wants his own as well. It actually takes some nice pictures and is quite durable.

Well, I really liked this camera while it was still working. The pictures were kinda blurry, but they were fun for the kids. And my kids, no way are they touching my camera, so it was nice that they could actually take pictures of eachother, play games, and generally be rough on it.

Except it broke. After about a month for no apparent reason it stopped working. Pretty much first time I changed the batteries it was gone. I tried everything even pressing the nearly invisible reset button on the bottom. Then I called Vtech and they mailed me a new camera.

After they played with it for about a month, well, then it died. So I tried to change the batteries again. To no avail. :( For a product that is supposed to simply be durable our sure hasn't worked for long at all. And I know for certain that it was never dropped in a toilet or gotten wet. It was dropped a couple of times, but generally we tried to take good care of it. I don't understand why it works so inconsistently.

Compared to say, the leapsters which we have dropped several hundred times and they are still running great.

My 5 year old boy desperately wanted a camera after his 8 year old sister got one. I was worried he would break an "adult camera" and suggested to his grandmother this would be a good one to buy. We are so impressed! While it does need 4 AA batteries, the rechargeable ones work fine. The camera is very intuitive and easy to use. You can download the photos and the resolution is decent. There are fun games on the camera so it is a great toy to bring in the car and then to some event. He has actually dropped it once and it was fine. I would highly recommend this camera.

I bought this camera for my son last christmas (he was 3). He loved carrying it around and taking pictures of everything. The picture quality is absolutely horrible and while I get that it is a toy, it isn't so cheap that the pictures couldn't be decent. I could overlook that fact since my son enjoyed the toy but it stopped working several months ago. It will turn on and you can see images in the viewfinder but none of the other buttons work any more even after making sure there was a fresh set of batteries. It definitely does not have the durability that it claims!!

My Kids LOVED this camera when they got it for Christmas. I was impressed and it did a lot of very fun things. HOWEVER. It broke on its own. Its can't possibly be THAT durable if it breaks so easily. Have they dropped it? Probably, but according to its selling points, its safe to be dropped occassionally. Let's just say it wasn't misused by any means. Its mode button stopped working so no more videos, or games or editing the pictures in fun ways. That is very sad. Basically it takes fun pictures but that is it. My son is especially sad that he can no longer play the games. Its "up" function on the four way toggle button no longer works either. if I plug it into the computer via the USB cord it will momentarily give me the option of MODE options... games, editing, etc... but if I choose something, that's it, that is what I have unless I plug it back in. And there is no way my kids are going to get to freely plug things into the USB port whenever they want the dang thing to work properly. And yes, I have new batteries in it, etc. Its just a bum camera. I'm sure they're not all this way, but mine is. And for this price, that STINKS.

We liked the camera went it was given to us, and it seemed very kid friendly. However we were disappointed by the photo quality, and also by the fact that after we had had it for a few months, it just stopped working. We had never subjected it to tremendous abuse or dropped in water, and don't know what happened. We changed the batteries and that didn't fix the problem. We are now unfortunately looking for another kids camera. We will not buy this camera again.

Vtech - Kidizoom Digital Camera - Orange

Whenever you pick up your cell phone or camera, there are always pictures on them that you don't recall taking. Turns out that my great-nephew who is not quite 3 yrs. loves to take pictures of everything. Even though he's a little young, I decided to buy it for Christmas and he could grow into it. Christmas morning was too much fun. Normally children his age just rip into their gifts and move on. He opened my gift first and that was it. He had to be 'forced' to open his other gifts, and as each gift was opened, he had to put it on the coffee table to take its picture before moving on to the next gift. He was having so much fun with it, he did not put it down until his family had to leave. He has taken it to daycare and photographed his friends. He loves it, and no more 'mystery' pictures on your cell and camera. It fits perfectly in his little hands and as he matures, I'm certain he will enjoy the other features loaded on the camera. It was quite entertaining to hook up to the TV and be able to see all the pictures he had taken. Made for quite a memorable Christmas!