Fisher-Price Smart Cycle [Old Version]

Fisher-Price Smart Cycle Fisher-Price Smart Cycle I purchased this product for my little one and there are several things I like about it and some I do not. I got it for a pretty good price on Amazon for around 90.00 dollars. You have to purchase games separately for it. I really appreciate that my child is enjoying basic learning while using this bike. It helps him recognize letters and numbers, and while teaching him/her to ride a "bike" with real petals. A couple of things I don't like about this set is it doesn't have different game levels. I would like to be able to select age appropriate levels for each child. The game shuts off if one of the children petal to vigorously. That is annoying in the fact that when the bike is cut off, my child can't take up where he left off at, he has to start over again thereby doing the same tasks he just completed. He does get some decent exercise from the gaming system. The video and viewing quality could also be improved on this unit. However, He really likes the toy a lot, so I will give it a four stars, but as a parent, I see where Fisher Price could improve it.

I like the idea of a toy that enables kids to learn and get excercise at the same time, without ever leaving the house. Unfortunately, Fisher-Price didn't invest enough time and money in the Smart Cycle to make it valuable. The hardware and software look really cheap, and don't last very long. The games are much too simple, have awful low-resolution graphics, provide very little excercise, and even less education. I'm guessing that most of the positive reviews were written by parents the first few days after giving the toy to their kids. Kids are always excited when they receive a new toy. My kids were no different when they received the Smart Cycle. However, their excitement soon turned to boredom. The software is extremely simple, repetitive, and crash-prone. After a few uses, half of the cartridges wouldn't play anymore. My son, who is six years old now, finds the games so boring and repetive that he wouldn't play them if his life depended on it. My daughter, who is four years old, can stand the games for occasional, short periods of time. Neither child has learned anything from the games. If your kids can already identify letters and numbers, they will not learn much of anything either. None of the games are really suitable for kids above four years old, and kids below three years old cannot pedal effectively. Don't expect this to be toy that your kids will enjoy and learn from for many years. If you get one year of occasional use out of it, feel lucky!

We got this for our 4.5 year old daughter. The first one fritzed out after a day or two and Amazon promptly replaced it, another reason to love Amazon. I have to give kudos for their straight-forward replacement policy and procedures for most items! Good job Amazon...The second Smart Cycle worked perfectly and has continued to work well. A number of different games that make it fun to learn some basic counting and spelling all while the child pedals away.An improvement would be you could set the game at different levels so the child can continued to be challenged as they improve.Also, the ability to remember where a game left off if the child has to leave for bathroom, meals, etc.But, overall, pretty good bang for the buck -- and a neat idea that they are encouraged to excercise while playing. Handy for cold, rainy days.This goes without saying, but... the Smart Cycle connects to your TV or VCR via a cord that should be plenty long enough. However, be careful to position the cord as carefully as possible so it will lay flat, or it is a trip waiting to happen.By the way, she REALLY liked the cardboard box the Smart Cycle came in. I think sometime we are better off giving our kids cardboard boxes and just letting them be truly creative!

I bought this for my daughter (she will be six in March) for Christmas, and so far my only complaint is that Fisher Price should have designed it so it didn't rely on battery power alone. I ordered rechargeable batteries, so it shouldn't be an issue, but I spent as much on the batteries and charger for this and another toy as I did on the Smart Cycle. The toy itself is great fun, and doesn't seem to use up the batteries too quickly, so that's a plus. My daughter and granddaughter (nearly six, also) both love it! It is fun to watch, so they don't even mind taking turns. It was easy to put together and seems to be sturdy (time will tell). It is easy for the kids to understand how it works, so they can play independently. Hopefully, after the holidays the games will be easier to find and at the more reasonable prices they were meant to be. Amidst the Christmas rush, the prices went up as the games were harder to find. All in all, I highly recommend the Smart Cycle, and the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars across the board is because of the need for batteries.

we just gave this to our almost 4 yr. old son today at first he couldn't even pedal or steer but he had it down pat in no time. then we had over 4 other boys ages 3-9 and they took turns on it all day long, even my 1.5 yr old daughter gave it a whirl (she couldn't really reach the pedals yet, but had fun with the buttons). believe me if it held up to these kids it will hold up to anything A++++ for durability. i figured once the batteries wore out that would be the end of it for today but they never did !!! so it doesn't drain them that quick like some of the reviewers make out. and we didn't even take out one of the additional games we bought they just played with the one that comes with it and every time i looked they were doing something different so there must be a lot of levels or options or something. definately worth the $$$$ :):):)