Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I don't have a child. I don't really see the point, honestly. But my brother has one -- a bouncing 12-month-old girl with giant, pinchable cheeks -- and I passed this on to him and asked him to tell me how it stands up as an educational toy for his daughter. Here's what he had to say about it. PROS: -- The box says there are over fifty phrases/songs/responses. This is true. In fact, my brother counted up to around 80. -- Like most Fisher-Price stuff, the build is sturdy, yet light. It would survive a fall from a twenty story building, although any child sitting in it at the time would probably not. -- The components in the chair automatically progress through responses as the child learns to comprehend them. In my brother's words, this was "very cool." You can also manually set the system level, choosing from three settings. Level 1 is all about the kid just exploring the chair and what it can do, Level 2 builds on what the child has learned and starts asking guided questions, and Level 3 gets a bit more abstract by encouraging games of pretend. -- The chair is just the right height and stability for the suggested age group. My niece -- Kyrie -- isn't walking yet, but it was easy for her to sit next to and in the chair as well as play with all of the buttons and switches. -- My brother was very excited about the chair's ability to adjust its volume. Although he liked the variety and quality of the tunes and feedback, he also saw himself getting pretty sick of it after awhile. Kryie, on the other hand, didn't seem to get too sick of it. -- The power, volume, and setting switches were convenient enough for adults to adjust, but also inset so as to be difficult for children to change. -- The chair automatically goes into a standby mode after a while and only turns on when it senses feedback. It's nice not to have to remember to turn it on and off. -- There's a big gap between the base and the seat to help prevent the accidental mashing of hands. CONS: -- The assembly was kind of a pain, even more so since the battery housing is located under the rear leg assembly, which means every time you need to change the batteries, you'll need to partially take apart two separate parts of the chair with a screwdriver. It would've been nicer to have a more accessible battery compartment. -- Although it has a lot of tunes and feedback, more actually would've been nice (and "kinder to my sanity," says my brother). This, he admits, is a bit of a nitpick. -- There's not much included literature to indicate how the chair works. Adults will end up having to explore the chair with the child just to figure out what it's doing. Overall a fun and fairly inexpensive learning device with a few small, not-too-big flaws.