Original BB-8 by Sphero (No Droid Trainer)

This is the coolest toy I've ever had, and I'm 33. The folks at Sphero clearly were in a rush to get the product out the door for the movie release, but they've kept their promise to update him, and I expect that they will continue to unlock the immense potential of this little guy in the coming months. Pros: -Sooooo cute! The little autonomous head movements make him feel alive. He's just full of personality. -Good battery life. I've yet to have him run down on me during a play session (though I don't think I've tried to push the hour mark) -Durable. The body is made of very thick plastic. He's taken some tumbles, and though the head will sometimes fall off in an impact, he doesn't have a scratch on him. He takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'. -Controls are easy to learn and use. -Sphero continues to update the actions and sounds available. -Compatible with other programs like SPRK Lab and Tickle (iPhone only) for infinite programming and customization. This allows you to use BB-8 like a regular Sphero. He's more versatile this way, but not as cute. It's the head movements that really make him special, and older Sphero programs don't account for that added motion. - Voice commands are pretty fun, though there are only a few to choose from. Cons: - The current interface is very limited. There are 12 programmed actions, and you can of course drive BB-8 freely. There's no light functions to play with, and Sphero cannot put the program on an open platform because of the Star Wars licensing agreement. - BB-8 runs a bit more sluggish in his specific control program than he does in custom programs like SPRK Lab. - Patrol mode is worthless. BB-8 does not "remember" when he bumps into something, so he just keeps running into the walls and getting stuck in remote corners. Annoying. It would be so much better if he could somehow use distance from your phone or GPS to actually navigate spaces, like a Roomba does. This just may not be possible, but I hope to see better functionality in updates. - Hologram mode does not work that well on my Samsung S5; the image often doesn't line up correctly with the robot, so the image just randomly projects in space. The record function is pretty cool, though. It's just kind of glitchy right now. Hopefully Sphero will update this function. - No "follow me" or "come here" function. This seems like it would be pretty simple to implement. Another function I hope to see in an update. -It would have been SUPER COOL to have a little camera in the head. I know, power issues, it would be too heavy, etc. But I can dream, can't I? Overall, this is a really excellent little piece of technology, but its capabilities are not even close to being fully utilized at the moment. With some added voice and command functionality, and improvement of the patrol mode, I might just never put him down. Well done, Sphero. I look forward to your next updates for my little droid buddy.

I bought the Sphero BB-8 for my son for his 5th Birthday. The timing of the new Star Wars movie relative to his December birthday could not have been better. I took him to see the movie, and then he received the Sphero BB-8 at the birthday dinner that followed. His reaction was priceless - and alone was worth the purchase. But it gets better. This toy is incredibly fun to play with - and my 5-year old son immediately was able to control it with ease. The interface is that intuitive. The droid moves and reacts as the movie's BB-8 - because it's essentially just a scaled down version of the original. The preprogrammed behaviors are a lot of fun for my son as well, and the visual effects using your tablet (iPad Mini 2 in our case) or phone are pretty darn cool! This toy is incredibly well thought out, engineered and produced. To answer the critique that you need a near 'sterile' environment to operate this toy - that is bunk. My son's carpeted bedroom is anything but sterile, and while this toy responds more sluggishly on carpet - it still moves around without any major issues. The only surfaces I would avoid running this on would be concrete, and some types of tile, due to the fact the harder surfaces will degrade the polymer decal on the body of the droid. The only thing I can think of that I would critique about this toy is that it's a lot of fun for adults too. Thankfully, my son has a relatively early bed time - so I can get some BB-8 time in without frustrating a busy 5-year old.

My kids love this little booger. We've had him for 8 months and he doesn't come out every day anymore, but they play with it more than weekly. It gets used as BB8 in star wars play (dwarfs the other figures but they don't care). It gets used without the head in lots of other play. I saw the ball being a boulder that would chase action figures and run them over. I saw it being the pretend tornado one time. It's really fun to have a remote control ball in all kinds of imaginative play! It doesn't work so great in the snow and ice, but once that melts they've really liked it on the grass. It's perfect both in the yard and at the park. We don't use it on asphalt because I don't want it getting roughed up. They'll use it a little bit on the park equipment. They have fun on the playground equipment that has ramps. They've had less success trying to go up slides and it's not precise enough to try to run along railings. Outside, we mainly use it without the head. But it's still a fun toy that always grabs attention. In fact, that's the only downside with outside use. If the park is full, too many kids will want to interact with it. We bought it as a Star Wars toy. It's been used in so many ways, that I can't begin to tell them all to you. I think a Spero in any form is a great toy in imaginative hands.

It was a bit of a struggle to get the droid connected to the app, but once it got connected the first time, it's been seamless when I connect to the app. There are great options within the app and the controls are pretty easy to figure out, somewhat sensitive but once you get the hang of it, is fun to play with. My dog likes to chase him around and you can put him on an auto roving setting and he'll just make his way around randomly. Way fun and super cool if you're a Star Wars fan!

Ótimo produto. Uma pena não ter à venda, no Brasil, os outros droides. Há alguma previsão para isso? Aguardo retorno.

My seven year old daughter is saying dad " Will my new friend grow big as I am growing? " Thanks amazon.

Es un juguete muy bonito, llego en tiempo y excelentes condiciones, el tamaño no es muy grande, tiene la altrua de un iPhone Plus, pero para un rato de diversion o como anexo de tu coleccion es exclente.

Es mi segunda experiencia con un bb8 dron y es lo mejor, la app fue mejorada y el dron funciona perfecto.