Pleo Dinosaur - A UGOBE Life Form

Pleo Dinosaur - A UGOBE Life Form I bought Pleo the Dinosaur for my five-year-old grandson, who is a bit younger than the recommended age for this product. However, Pleo has been a huge hit, not only with the grandson to whom I gave the gift but also his three-year-old brother. Even we adults have enjoyed the little critter. The magic of Pleo is that he displays "emotions" depending on the emotions he receives. He'll coo, cuddle, curl up and go to sleep and generally interact the way a puppy would. He'll also get sad if you treat him poorly and angry if you really honk him off. Pleo arrives as an infant and evolves to toddler status. Coming software upgrades, made possible by a computer chip and USB connector, will presumably allow for more maturation in the future. The good news is, there's no need to housebreak, at least not unless the manufacturer "upgrades" Pleo's software in a most unusual way. While it remains to be seen if Pelo's hold on my grandchildren will quickly wear off, so far he has been captivating to them. I think the very life-like Pelo is a superb device for introducing young children to interacting with creatures that depend on them and trust them. In short, a good introduction to the far more complicated world of, say, owning a puppy. Despite price drops that allowed me to buy Pleo for a hundred dollars less than it would have cost me a year earlier, the toy is still a bit pricey for all but the most indulgent parents and grandparents. Nevertheless, it seems at this point to be money well spent.

Bought this for my 5-year old son for Christmas, even though Ugobe recommended for audiences 8 and older. It has been a great tool for teaching him how to be responsible with a pet (carry carefully, play gently, etc). It's all about the type of kid you have though - if your child is more of a ruffian, you may want to wait until he/she is closer to the recommended age, as it makes for an expensive replacement. Our dinosaur continually shows off new tricks as his 'personality' develops. My guess is that we will get to a point in the future where we have seen all the tricks, but the programming seems fairly non-repetitive at the moment. The dinosaur is interactive and curious, and with that comes a layer of reality. It's all a pretty sophisticated package. The entire family has had a lot of fun exploring and playing with Pleo. Hopefully Ugobe continues to release updates that truly allow our dinosaur to evolve so that the novelty does not wear off in the long term. As for any concerns regarding battery life...the battery does last for 1-1.5 hours. However, we have never played with Pleo for that long, and we don't mind the recharge time. Our Pleo seems to recharge a little faster than the 3-4 hours quoted on the web site.

[...]. I bought it as a birthday gift for my girlfriend's son. I knew it took 4 hours to charge so I unpacked it (Very nicely packed!) and charged the battery. I left and was gone all day (18 hours) and when I came home the battery and charger were good to go (no overheating or flashing lights that everyone was complaining about). I took the Pleo out of the wrapping and inserted the battery. I turned Pleo on and he awoke from sleeping. I had to keep petting him or he would fall back asleep. NOT EVEN 10 MINUTES this thing was walking around and making all kinds of noises. When you don't pay attention to him (petting) he will get upset and start yelling. He then will explore and if he is bored he will fall asleep. I then pet him and he woke up wagging his tail and started barking like a dog. I did this to ensure he worked and so my girlfriend's son did not have to wait 4 hours to play with him. I think it already has the updates installed because he started dancing too. Very fun toy to have and people have to realize he is just that....A TOY.... not a live dog, cat, pharrett, none of those things A TOY. and just like anything in life if you mistreat your toys and don't handle them properly they will break. Overall, still a very good gift to brighten any kid's day. I think my girlfriend's 6 year old son will love him. I would recommend this to anyone.

Pleo, or in our case Cleo (that's what my daughter named her Pleo) is definitelly cool. It's response to touch and being picked up and some of the sounds he makes are very entertaining. That said, there are a few drawbacks that should be mentioned: 1. The battery life is very short. One hour of play, maybe. Now that's not that bad in terms of continuous play, after all I don't expect nor prefer my daughter to play with somehting like this for anywhere near a full contiunous hour, but in terms of user-required-maintenance it's almost like having a frekkin' dog... you might not have to walk pleo every day but you have to take his battery out and put it in the charger, otherwise your kid's desire to play with it the next day will have to be met with the constant "Cleo is sleeping" 2. The videos for the toy either totally remove or vastly downplay Pleo's mechanical noise. It's not the end of the world, but I have to say I was a bit dismayed at just how mechanically noisy he is, after having watched the videos. 3. Pleo's walking abilities are fairly limited. At least in our home. We have ceramic tile throughout, and an area of soft rubber-mats for the kids to play on ... Pleo is ridiculously slow (as in it appears to take him 4 steps to move as far as it would seem he should move in one step) on both surfaces. It almost looks as if he's doing a Michael Jackson-inspired forward moonwalk ... you know it's as if he takes 20 3-foot steps to walk 5 feet ;-) 4. Pleo's skin wears significantly with very mild handling. This is acknowledged on Ugobe's site Overall I would say the following: If the price paid for Pleo is minutia to you (it's not to me) then definitelly get it. The cool-aspects definitelly outclass the drawbacks. If you're more of a value-driven customer then I would suggest waiting for V2.0 when Ugobe will undoubtedly address some of the issues. For what it's worth I tried getting access to the downloadable Pleo personalities on Ugobe's site but they were never accessible when I tried. They may be now, I don't know.

Pleo is an amazing robotic dinsoaur that comes startlingly close to seeming real. Perhaps the best thing about Pleo is watching my two young boys interact with it. Pleo has taught them both how to be gentle and caring towards other creatures. My three year old carries our Pleo around the house very gently and always makes sure the dino is "fed" and pampered. I can tell my rambunctious son to "be careful" or "be gentle" with Pleo and he will actually do it; which says to me that he is learning how to interact properly with pets and other living creatures (even though technically Pleo is not "alive"). That alone makes Pleo worth the purchase. It is an added bonus that the dinosaur seems to have a distinct personality and some very endearing traits -- for example, every single time I cuddle Pleo in a certain way, he will put his head on my shoulder and fall asleep... complete with soft snores and settling-in gestures. Amazing! Every day we learn something else about our Pleo and there seems to be no limit to the ways in which this toy can surprise us. You might surprise yourself when you find you are developing a true fondness for a creature that is not even real. PROS - Realistic movements and personality - Rubberized "skin" feels authentic - Seems to have autonomous thoughts and definitely responds appropriately to touch - Rechargable Battery that is well designed for easy removal (and all things considered it really does not take long to recharge; typically less than 3 hrs) - Wonderful replacement for a real pet (no mess, no clean up, no stress - but with the ability to care for it and feel fondly of it all the same) - Unique and progressive toy. There is currently nothing else like it on the mass market. CONS - Battery life is extremely short (less than an hour of playtime per charge) - The "[...]" website is a joke. I still have not been able to register our Pleo and download the newest OS because I keep getting error messages (for nearly a week now). It is VERY frustrating. - Very slow. Pleo walks, but does not get around quickly. Nor are any of his other movements really snappy. - Expensive; although if you get it on sale at Amazon like I did, it is worth every single penny. - Delicate. This is, after all, a high-tech robotic toy, so you must be careful. SUMMARY Pleo is cute, lovable and sophisticated. So lifelike that you almost forget you are dealing with an electronic toy. I feel this robot has definitely redefined its genre and is a novel item to own. I would recommend Pleo for any age at all -- from the very young to the very old, and everything in between.

We bought the $199 Pleo for our 7 year old daughter for Christmas. What a huge mistake and disappointment. After her initially being charmed by his babyish charm & good looks we were all extremely disappointed by the 5 min battery life and completely defunct programming. Even downloading the new software didn't improve his interactions and he simply stuttered on the same gurgling sounds over and over until his batter shut down which was about 3-5 mins with a full charge. Stroking him, the training leaf, nothing would cause him to do anything other than the stuttery gurgle. We all had super high hopes for Pleo and he was a huge let down. Thank God Amazon honors it's return policy, it is the reason I will buy from them without hesitation. Perhaps some day if we have more money than sense we'll try the new and improved Pleo for $300 but at this point it doesn't seem worth the hype for a toy that you can only interact with in hour long intervals at best.

It seemed like it was nothing more than a whole lot of honking an hooting - some clumsy movements - some improved movements - and some more honking an hooting. Him playing with his training leaf quite frequently (in fact, it's pretty much all he really does now) - but Pleo doesn't seem to care if he's playing with his leaf, or anything else at that matter In all honesty, it just seems very 'unaware' of it's surroundings, unless you're physically in contact with it. more. I think if you're sincerely interested in purchasing one, you should wait for a deal, because I don't think it's worth it's current selling price. Also battery only stay 30min. after that so many times freeze so we have to shut down many time. I contect UGOBE(pleo) he told me buy new battery because I got the old version that not working. even old or new it has to be work so I do not wanted spend more, I just return it back.

I bought Pleo as a birthday gift for my 2 grandsons (ages 10 and 6). I brought the first one to the restaurant where we celebrated with a birthday dinner and presented Pleo to my 10 year-old (who knew what his gift was). He couldn't wait to unwrap Pleo and awaken him (I had charged the battery beforehand). I cannot begin to tell you how mesmerzied EVERYONE in the restaurant was by Pleo. People asked if they could hold him ... the bartender wanted to keep him (we couldn't believe how Pleo would not walk off the edge of the bar) ... and my grandson did not want to let him go. This took place last week, so I can't comment as to Pleo's durability at this point in time. I am giving the second Pleo to my younger grandson on Saturday (I cannot bear to make him wait until HIS birthday in 2 weeks ... so am giving him his gift early). He is so excited ... is counting the minutes. It totally amazes me how lifelike this little dinosaur is and how sweet and lovable. Not only as a toy, but also from an emotional standpoint ... all we can say is ... PLEO ROCKS! Well worth every single penny.