Magick1's Full Review: Oregon Scientific Interactive Globe
The beauty of being able to, quickly, find out virtually anything you might want to know is great. The internet provides us a lot of information. All that you have to do is search for it. With the Oregon Scientific Deluxe Edition Smart Globe, you can find out a lot of information too, and quickly!
The Product
This globe is able to grow with your child(ren) from ages 5 – about 15 years old. This is what made me look into it further. It was not a cartoonish world globe, it was a real globe with the information regarding the states in the United States of America. This certainly would help a little one realize where we are in the grand scheme of things, right?
There is a lot of detail provided with this globe in addition to just the globe itself and the map of the U.S.A.. You can find out information on countries like what time it is there, what their normal weather is like (cold in winter, warm in summer) and many, many other things! Let me take you on a quick tour of the globe to see if I can give you a small view of what it can do!
Touch
There is a Smart Pen with this globe. By using this, you are able to download the current facts for the globe daily, weekly or monthly so that you have the most up to date information regarding the global communities!
You are able to find out the following information just by touching the globe:
Continent, Name, Capitals, Leaders, Population, Time, Area, Highest Point, Geography, Currency, Weather, Features, History, Language and the National Anthem
If you want, you can compare information between two locations! And, you don’t have to just compare U.S. states you can compare U.S. states with other places on the globe!
The globe allows for quick like features to help children and adults learn where things are. You can find the following items:
Continents, Countries, Capitals, Cities, Local Places and do the Ultimate Challenge
The Ultimate Challenge is a combination of questions from all of the items listed above in the find section!
This section does adjust according to ages as well. If you are between 5- 8, it allows for 90 seconds to find continents, but if you are 15+ it will allow only 45 seconds. The countries, capitals, cities, local places and the ultimate challenge have 120 seconds for the 5 – 8 age bracket and only 60 seconds for the 9 – 14 or 15+ groups!
There are also 3 levels associated with this section where the users are quizzed. To be able to advance to a higher level, the 5 – 8 age group has to answer 1 question correctly to get to level 2 and 2 questions to get to level 3 and 3 questions to pass level 3.
There are also Spanish activities available on this globe. Also, you can load up to 8 languages for this globe. They are as follows: English, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Japanese, Chinese, French, and Italian!
The globe provides interesting information with up to the date world news, amazing facts about places and great earth facts.
The Globe and the Pen
The globe uses 4 AA batteries and the pen requires 2 AAA batteries. You do have the option to use the AC/DC adaptor that is included, but take out the batteries in the base before using the adaptor!
The smart pen will shut off if it is not used within 5 minutes, so it will help save you batteries, as this does not have an adaptor.
Included in the package is the globe (which is built into a base that has a holder for the smart pen and a slide out tray where the U.S. map is located. This drawer slides open or closed and will click shut to keep it stored easier.
The adaptor, as mentioned, is included in the box and so is the USB cable needed to hook the smart pen to your computer to download the current facts and information. There is a CD-Rom included that has the program for you to use to get the program to work for the smart pen. On this graphic user interface you select the age group, language and hook up your pen, then hit download and off you go!
I have found the downloads take quite a while. They recommend your computer be of these minimum specs in order to work with this program efficiently:
Pentium III 600 MHz with 128 MB RAM and Windows XP, Windows 2000 (Home or Professional). I use Windows Vista, so I am well over the required system needs.
There are a couple of built in speakers, one in the smart pen and one in the base of the globe. In order to use the louder speaker you need to hook up the speaker to the pen with the speaker jack.
You can purchase additional smart pens to use with this globe, but it is recommended that you have headphones for multiple users so they can focus on the items they are touching to learn about what they wanted and not have to listen to the other person’s information.
Also included in the package is a bonus of the flags from around the world! You can use the smart pen to touch these flags and learn about the places they represent!
There are volume controls and a pause button, repeat button and player button. You can play games with up to 4 players on this globe! There is also a demo button on there as well. So, if you come across one in the stores, push it and hear some of the information you can listen to on this globe!
The globe is ran by the smart pen and a 7 rows of selectors that drive the information you will receive. For example, if you want to find out amazing facts, you hit that button and then you hit a spot on the globe and it will rattle off some information.
If you wanted to find the currency, you click the currency button and the location and it will tell you what you requested.
There are 36 buttons or activities and then the controls (volume, demo, etc.) and 6 of these are Spanish activities. The globe has itself 32 MB flash memory internally.
Overall Impressions
We have been pleasantly surprised by the wealth of information this globe gives to us. I have learned quite a bit that I did not know about continents or highest elevation in areas. My daughter just turned 5 and she has shown quite an interest in this as well. She grabbed onto what to do quickly and before I knew it, she was checking population in our home state compared to countries around the world and locally on the U.S. map. We now know what our state’s population is and what other states we are bigger than!
It has been a wonderful gift and we are definitely glad that we received it! The only complaint that I have is that the smart pen takes a long time to download and we have a DSL connection.
The globe is big, though, so be prepared. I don’t have it right here with me at the computer. But, I am venturing a guess that it stands roughly 18 inches high! It’s roughly 8 pounds or so, and it was roughly 11 – 12 pounds with all of the packaging.
For parents that like to look for awards items might have received, this did receive the 2007 T.O.T.Y. (Toy of the Year) award.
We are very pleased with this and if you have inquiring minds in your house that like to know information about the world, this is an awesome gift to give or receive. From a quick search on the internet, I found prices ranging from around $89 to up to $129 for this particular globe. I helped the grandparents purchase this and we went through www.worldglobes.com and were very pleased with their service!
~Thanks for spending time with me today!~
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): Gif (100.00) Type of Toy: Educational
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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