Showing posts with label table games for kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label table games for kids. Show all posts

Kettler Match 5.0 Indoor Table Tennis Table (Blue Top)

Kettler Match 5.0 Indoor Table Tennis TableYou will not get an aluminum composite table as described or in the pictures.If you realize this after you put it together, you will be very irritated.All the bolts come in several bags and you had better have your millimeter ruler handy.If you use the 37mm bolt instead of the 30mm bolt, you will have to disassemble that part.Even IKEA labels the parts.Good luck if you purchase this product.

The table would actually be a 4-5 star quality, but be prepared to waste a lot of time putting it together due to the incompetence of the manufacturers. The instruction booklet is almost useless and there is no way anyone could put this table together just by reading the pathetic instructions. I had to search YouTube but finally found video instructions from the US distributor but even those are pathetic, they don't give a wide enough view to see which way the angles face, so you can't tell if you are doing it right. Then for the final insult, there were bolts, nuts, washers and spacers missing from the packing. I had to make 4 trips to the hardware store to find stuff that was missing from packs that are supposedly counted. The problem is that you don't know what's missing until you get to the next section because you can only do one section at a time. When you don't have the piece you need, it's back to the hardware store. This could be an easy job if all the parts were packed together with a comprehensive assembly DVD.

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This was our first table and I love it. It was REAL pain to put together, watch the video and print out the extended directions. Step #10 the bars point down. Plan on a few hours to assemble.This table folds up easily and rolls into place with little effort. Getting the table down, can be tricky and is easier with 2 people. I don't think this is an outdoor table, description sort of leads you to believe it is.

Read Best Reviews of Kettler Match 5.0 Indoor Table Tennis Table (Blue Top) Here

Love the table... after surviving the construction!Now that the 3 hour assembly marathon is a past memory, we're really enjoying this table... it's easy for one person to set up, or fold up, and it plays really well.Could be a bit sturdier, but let's face it... a ping-pong ball doesn't require much stability from the table.The packaging was really well done... even though the box looked BAD... like a fork lift had ripped into it several times, there was no damage to the table!The two table pieces were packed face-to-face with a protective film on both that was really fun to peel off.There was also a flat plastic protective strip all around the edges of those table pieces to prevent damage.All the pieces were found OK, but, really, 3 hours to put together a > 100 piece ping-pong table, based mostly on graphical instructions, is a bit much. Given the same choices, would I do it again?Hmmmm... not sure.The Kettler brand, manufactured in Germany, were definitely the major decision factors.I've taken one star off for the challenging assembly required.Other than that, we're really happy with a quality table.

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This beautiful ping pong table has been delivered twice and twice had to be returned. The box arrived both times damaged in more than one place and I had the driver open the box. The pieces started falling out right away and the second time a large cut had damaged the table. Very unfortunate. It's now almost 1 1/2 months later and I still don't have my ping pong table.

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Voit Challenge 7-in-1 Game Center Combo Table

Voit Challenge 7-in-1 Game Center Combo TableI was disappointed in the quality of this table? Once assembled its would not stay on the pins. The score keepers fell off immediately

My daughter loves it. It's a great family challenge! Very pleased with this product. Easy to assemble and fun to play!

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Asus Nexus 7 1B32 7-Inch 32 GB Tablet

Asus Nexus 7 1B32 7-Inch 32 GB Tablet
  • Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, 7 inches Display
  • NVIDIA Tegra 3.0 1.2 GHz
  • 32 GB Flash Memory, 1 GB RAM Memory
  • 0.7 pounds

Full Disclosure:

-----------------

Let me state upfront that in the last 3 years, my wife and I have purchased 4 iPhones, 4 iPads, 1 Mac Mini, 1 Apple TV and 2 Macbook Airs for ourselves and extended members of the family. I cannot review this product without comparing it to the iPad 2, which I've been using for the last year and a half.

Motivation:

------------

We have an 18 month old son who needs to be entertained with videos and apps while he's being fed and we have an upcoming trip to India during which we'll need to keep him busy during the flight and transits. Here are our requirements -

1) We needed a tablet that is more portable than the 16 GB iPad 2 that we currently have so that it's easy to stuff into my cargo pants or jacket and pull it out quickly when required.

2) We needed more than the 16GB storage to store his favorite videos because we may have intermittent access to WiFi, at least 32 GB.

3) When he's not using it, I would like a tablet that's easy to grip for long hours of reading.

Choice:

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Based on these 3 requirements, I restricted my choice to the iPad Mini, Kindle Fire HD and Nexus 7 32GB.

Here are the reasons I decided to go with the Nexus 7.

The 32 GB iPad Mini was almost $195 ((429 249) * 1.0825) more than the other 2 when you include CA sales taxes. It is at least half an inch wider than the Nexus 7 which makes it slightly harder to grip if you have small hands like me. The areas where it's better slightly bigger screen, iOS app store, rear camera were not that important to me since we already have an iPad 2 and I don't shoot photos or videos with tablets.

I chose Nexus 7 over Kindle Fire because I use a lot of Google services and wanted a tablet with a more open ecosystem. I can read Kindle e-books and listen to music using the Amazon Cloud Player on the Nexus 7. We have a Netflix subscription so the loss of Amazon Instant Video was not that important.

Review:

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Here are the things that I liked about the Nexus 7 -

1) Jelly Bean (4.1) is really good. I had played with Android phones and tablets before and they used to lack the smoothness of iOS. I think it's pretty close now.

2) The higher resolution HD screen is great for reading and watching videos.

3) If you are heavily into the Google ecosystem, it's a breeze to set it up.

4) Android in general is more customizable with widgets etc.

5) I was able to download most of the iOS apps that I use frequently with some exceptions. More on that later.

6) I liked the auto-update feature on Android. It's an option that you can tick while downloading an app. It automatically downloads updates to that app.

7) I liked the notification system and realized why iOS decided to replicate it.

8) I also liked the shortcut for looking at running apps and a simple flick deletes them.

9) It is easier for my son to hold compared to the iPad 2. He also has a habit of pressing the home button and exiting the app on the iPad 2 and then complaining about it (he's only 18 months old) but fortunately he can't do that on the Nexus 7.

Here are the things that I thought were missing -

1) There are fewer tablet optimized apps on Android. The quality of apps on iOS for iPad is definitely better. Flipboard was good on Nexus 7 but Zite lacked the polish of the iPad app. NYTimes was good. The usual games like Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja and Cut the Rope were more unstable and crashed a few times. I installed Talkatone to make calls through Google Voice and it worked fine. The usual ones Netflix, Skype, etc. worked fine. I noticed some lag while using Zinio to read the National Geographic.

2) I'm still not used to the Chrome browser on a tablet. It seemed to me that accessing bookmarks on the iOS browser is easier. I found all my bookmarks already synced on my Chrome browser but accessing them requires multiple steps.

3) It is slightly heavier than the iPad Mini but not by a lot. The iPad Mini is still ahead in terms of external design and looks but the cost mattered more to me this time. I may have paid $100 more for the iPad Mini because of the iOS app ecosystem advantage but $195 was a very high premium for an optional device.

Conclusion:

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The Nexus 7 is an excellent device irrespective of the price but the price makes it easier to appreciate it even more. If your requirements and expectations are similar to mine, I would strongly recommend it. I bought this product from Office Depot but I felt that the review might help others make a decision.

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Updated News as of April 3rd:

Google is set to release the 2nd edition of the Nexus 7 in July 2013. Resolution is expected to be bumped up to 1920 x 1080, new Qualcomm Snapdragon processor for increased speed, 2 gigs of RAM, a back camera, and for the cellular plan, LTE. Pricing rumors haven't been released. So, if you can wait a few months, it's probably best to see what Google has in store for the Nexus 7 Second Edition before buying the currently offered Nexus 7.

End of Update.

I've had the Nexus 7 8gb since Late August. I'll share some of my experience as well as pitfalls. The 8/16/32 Gb are functionally identical abet with a few minor difference between them, largely being the size capacities. There is also a 3G cellular version for $300 on Google Play. Remember that currently Amazon is NOT selling the Nexus 7 itself, but merely providing 3rd Party sellers a place to sell it. Occasionally Amazon takes care of the shipping, but this is not an Amazon company product. It will be cheaper elsewhere.

The 32 GB version was released on October 29th, 2012. The 8 GB version was discontinued and the 16 GB version dropped $50 in price. The 3G cellular version went on sale on November 13, 2012 only on T-Mobile and AT&T networks for $300 big ones.

A few things key to know about the 32 GB version:

Flash memory works faster the more there is up to a plateau of around 480 GBs. Benchmarks on the 32 GB Nexus 7 show a slight improvement in speed in most activities. Meaning, despite having the same parts of its smaller sized brethren, the 32 GB will see a few seconds shaved off in terms of performance. The Nexus 7 8/16 versions were plenty fast already.

Asus should have fixed many of the defects that plagued the early releases from screen separation, light bleed, bad audio plugs, etc. Sometimes it pays to wait for technology.

Not all 32 GB are free for the user. Based on the previous models, you should have around 28 to 29 GB of empty space available.

Let's address some of the perceived flaws and some of the real flaws of the Nexus 7.

1) Storage. 8/16/32gb (the three flavors the Nexus 7 comes in) can go real fast real quick in today's age of HD movies. I took my 16gb iPad on a trip and I maxed out with movies incredibly fast, even after I shrunk them down to least tolerable quality. The Nexus 7 does deserve some criticism for no Micro-SD slot and I was not going to buy it for that sole reason. However, like all good Android Tablets, there's a solution.

It's called USB On The Go. You take a USB OTG cable (like $1 here or on eBay), plug it into your Nexus 7, download the Nexus Media Importer app (Currently $3 on Google Play) and then connect whatever side hard drive or flash drive you want. The largest size external media I could connect to (and have access too) is a 3TB Western Digital. So much for 8/16/32 gig limits! The only problem I encountered with large drives is that the Media Importer app (which streams media as well as allowing one way coping to the Nexus 7) is that it crashes when you try to stream media out of folders that contain huge amounts of files, like 3,000 mp3s. Oh yeah. And this requires absolutely ZERO rooting. Take your Nexus out of the box. Download the Nexus Media Importer App. Buy the cable. Plug in your thumb drive. You're good to go.

If you're cheap, you can do much of the same via Stickmount and a file manager (Stickmount requires rooting). But the Nexus Media Importer just makes it ridiculously easy. Also be aware that apps that move other apps to SD cards in other tablets will not work with this. Apps such as App 2 SD don't do anything. I tried.

As of today (11/19/12), I was able to connect a canon point and shoot, iPad 3, iPod Touch, 4 small flash drives (less than 2 GB), a 32 gb flash drive, a 1 TB and 3 TB external hard drives (Western Digital), a SD card reader (with regular and microSD via adapter) and was able to pull/stream files off all of them (FAT and NFTS formatting, no EXFAT at the moment sorry!). For some reason my old Motorola ZN5 (ancient eh?) no longer registers anymore, but as long as you plug in relatively new devices you'll be okay. An exception is I plugged in my 9 year old iRiver player and it streamed music perfectly.

Don't forget that OTG also lets you plug in and use keyboards (wired and wireless via dongle) and mice without rooting. Mice generate a cursor when plugged in. Also be aware that OTG may charge devices from your Nexus 7. For you true gamers, PS/3 controllers work as well. Not on all games, but games like Dead Trigger they'll work just like they do on a PS/3. Like to see that on a Kindle Fire or an iPad.

Speaking of that issue: Game controllers and utilities such as Sixaxis and Stickmount (among other apps) require rooting as well as installing a ROM (not sure why though you'd do that over pure Android). To those who are unsure of what rooting is, rooting grants the user access to the most bottom command line access of a device. Be aware this voids your warranty, risks turning your device into a very expensive paperweight and prevents auto updating of updates over the air. I learned this the hard way. Search on the XDA developer's website how to root, but research how to do it before attempting. There are benefits and disadvantages of rooting. Make sure that you know exactly why you are rooting.

2) Display. Yes, it's not an iPad 3 or 4 or a Nook HD (which by the way is gloriously beautiful). It's also less than half the price of the new iPad. Text is still crisp and clean and colors are largely well done. Not take that-iPad well done, but save yourself lots of cash well done. It's fairly responsive, not quite iPad responsive, but better than many other tablets out there. I have no complaints about it. I honestly don't think people will notice the difference between the two in sharpness and text, but it is not as good in showing colors. That said, the Nexus 7 has a better screen then the iPad Mini. Go to your local Apple store, look at the iPad 4s and then the Mini. Prepare to be shocked. It's that noticeable.

3) Camera is pretty terrible. The front facing 1.2 megapixels is nothing to get excited about. And there is no back camera. I honestly don't get why that's just a big deal. You look like a tool using the back camera. Anyone does. Even Olivia Wilde (13 on a total possible score of 10 house fans!) would look like a douche using a tablet's back camera to take video/pictures. Odds are you have your smartphone with a decent camera. Use that. There oddly though, is no app for the camera that ships with the Nexus 7. But there is a free Nexus 7 camera launcher app. One cool thing about the camera is that it does allow Face Unlock which takes a picture of your face and uses it as the unlocking mechanism for your tablet.

4) Apps. The Apple ecosystem has far more apps designed for tablets than Android does. But most of your apps, like Skype, Facebook, office utilities are all there. Furthermore, rather than being stuck on iTunes you can install Amazon's app store in addition to the preloaded Google Play store via going to the Amazon App Store, registering your email and then opening the email they send you on your tablet. It's annoying but it works. One word of caution on the Apple selling point: according to a few studies, something like 60% of all apps on iTunes (roughly 400,000) have never been downloaded which gels with the economic data showing only a relatively few app developers actually make any money.

5) No cellular connection. Fair enough, but it does have the capacity to get on to a hotspot. Meaning, just tether your smart phone. Granted, that costs money, but the fact that something like 80% of all tablets sold, Android and Apple are wi-fi only suggests that cellular connections on tablets is highly overrated. If you're one of those 8 out of 10 people who don't care about cell connections on your tablet, this shouldn't obviously matter.

The 3G cellular model available now on Google Play sells for $300. Also, does not support CDMA networks so no Verizon or Sprint. Ships with an AT&T sim card.

6) No Flash This is technically half wrong. While Jelly Bean does not support Flash off the bat, there are FREE fixes to get flash on to your Nexus.

Google "Install Flash On Nexus 7"

The downside is you need a browser that is flash coded which includes Firefox Beta (free on Google play). It's a bit convoluted but follow the instructions and you'll have your flash games. I've posted pictures on the Nexus 7 8GB image gallery of both flash games AND streaming flash video off my Nexus 7. Flash is being phased out entirely by Adobe. It's not pretty on the nexus 7 but you can get it to work, especially if you need to stream Amazon movies.

7) No home screen rotating Not true! Update 4.1.1 fixed this. Home screen rotates now!

Now on to other things:

Performance:

Little black rectangle is lightning fast. The five core processor (yes, there are five I'll get to that later) loads things speedy without crashes and without bugs. My iPad crashes apps pretty regularly. Only once has my settings crashed but that was largely due to me screwing up my setup of my Wi-Fi extender. I can't fault the Nexus 7 for that. Speaking of which, the Nexus was super useful walking all over my house and yard to diagnosis network dead zones and other problems. 3/4 of a pound and strong Wi-Fi pick up made that job real easy, especially with free Wi-Fi apps. I could have done that with my iPad, but that would have been far less fun. Also, the Nexus 7 picks up Wi-Fi networks my iPad doesn't

Oh yes, five cores. The process actually has a fifth core that keeps basic services running when the device is in sleep mode. That saves massive amounts of energy. The battery life on the Nexus is better than my iPad without comparison even when doing the same things. The fifth core doesn't operate during normal operations. Battery life on this device is phenomenal.

On light usage, I am able to get ~195 hours before hitting 5% battery. On medium, movie watching no heavy gaming, I can regularly do ~110 hours before hitting 5%. GPS however, will eat power like nobody's business.

Speaker is pretty terrible compared to iPad. But the audio on headphones is on par. I don't expect anyone to really use the speaker so I'm not counting that as a real disadvantage.

Operating System:

Jelly Bean isn't as smooth as iOS 5/6 but it is better than every other Android device that my friends and family have used (and I played around with). Be aware that the most recent update 4.2 allows multiple users accounts on the tablet (same as Nook HD) but right now has a bug with the clock that keeps crashing the clock, annoying, but not a big deal. Because this is a Nexus device, Google is pushing out updates regularly and you don't have the problem that many Android phones have in their carrier refuses to release updates. You'll have the most recent update of Google for the foreseeable future.

What I like about the Nexus 7 is that I can largely customize anything I want. The Nexus ships with a format that is more phone than tablet, but with a Root and a few apps, I was able to switch it to the Tablet UI that you see in 10" Android tablets. I personally prefer that format but it makes icons smaller to fit it all in. Not the best for older people. But that's the great thing about Android in general. Whatever you want to change, you probably can. And the Nexus 7 is no different.

Google Voice Search is pretty awesome. It's not as good as Siri in actually reading back answers to you, most of my searches lead to a web search with links. Weather does get repeated in a Siri like female voice. Speak slowly and clearly. Or you'll get weird results. Also, phrase questions more as searches than something you'd ask a real human. Google Voice does not do well with questions like "do I need an umbrella today?" Ask "Weather forecast (your location)."Also Google Voice does not have the witty banter of Siri. For instance, asking Siri "what are you wearing" gets her to say "Why do people keep asking me that?" Google Voice doesn't do that kind of funny stuff.

GPS & Directions:

Now, in my opinion, one of the coolest things about the Nexus 7 is in the built in GPS coupled with the free cached maps. Say you're going to visit your friend who's getting married in small town in Iowa. You can either buy a GPS or bring your Nexus 7 with the map of the small town saved to memory. Turn on the GPS and it will track where you on in the town on the map real time no wifi/cell connection required. I downloaded a map of my town and tracked myself going to work. Planning your route out can easily turn the Nexus 7 into a GPS system without any additional costs.

Note, this doesn't give you turn by turn directions by itself. To get turn by turn directions you need the "NAvFree USA" (there is a Navfree for other countries) app off the Google Play store. It's free. Download your state and set your destination. It gives out voice commands on when to turn similar to a dedicated GPS device. It doesn't name street names which is expected considering it's free, but it is largely accurate saying "in 100 meters, turn right." My recent test of the app did ask me to drive over a divided highway though. As long as you pay attention though, this app coupled with the Nexus 7 will function as decent GPS offline, no wifi, no cell connection. And it even recalculates the route if you miss a turn.

Other:

Widgets are small applications that sit on your home screens showing whatever you want. Right now I have weather, Settings controls, Youtube, Facebook and Salon online magazine. It's real nice to be able to look at your screen and get all the info you need rather than having to crack open an app or a browser. This is partially why Android web usages is much lower because there's no need to go to the Web to get information when it's right on your home screen.

I previously argued that this device was awful for note taking. I take part of that back. While the screen is tiny, using a real keyboard either via OTG or Bluetooth isn't that bad after I spent a month doing it. I still suggest getting a real laptop, iPad or Galaxy Note 10.1, but this will do in a bind. There's no latency in typing like other Android products have seen. The Asus Transformer with keyboard has a real noticeable latency issue when typing so much so it's unpleasant to type. The Nexus 7 with keyboard can write as fast as you can.

If you're looking to jump into Android, this is the tablet to do so.

Read Best Reviews of Asus Nexus 7 1B32 7-Inch 32 GB Tablet Here



Fist off this is not an Amazon purchase. Sorry Amazon, but it was cheaper at my local department store. Second, I will not compare this android tab to a ipad!!! Thats just stupid, IMO. Oranges and apples. One thing is all apple stuff cost more for comparable products. I dont buy over priced apple products.

Ok as for the Android tabs, this one is a winner. The new processor is lightening fast!!! I multitasked, played Netflix, and loaded the thing and its speed held great. Its touch is very responsive. Its res is great too. For the buck, 249, at most department stores and electronic stores, it beats the competitors. The only way to get better is to pay more.

There is no expansion slot but with 32 gigs its not really needed. You can Mini-USB it topc for file transfer with no prob.

It rotates to landscape with no need for an app.

Jelly bean is a winner and all new Androids have it so that doesn't need a review. The tablet is made well. It feels sturdy in the hand. The off button and volume are located nicely on the side but toward the edge so they dont get in the way.

Its a small tablet with a small voice so sound isnt great. The speakers are tiny and dont carry much.

But...plug in quality earbuds and the sound is great!!! MP3's sound the same as on my Sony MP3 player. Streaming movies are clear and sound fine.

The tablet streams youtube and netflix with no problem at all.

There is no rear camera. I dont know how the front facing camera is because I never use it. I didnt buy it to take pics nor to use it as a webcam.

Being a google approved product apps are not an issue. Once you change your permissions in settings for other apps, it excepts Amazons apps too.

The battery is good. About 3-4 hours video streaming, heavy web surfing and downloading, a good 6 with web off, playing games and reading. (Turning off the auto brightness helps save battery. Indoors I keep it adjusted to extremely low and only manually crank it for outside.)In sleep mode, I don't know how long the battery last as it barely moves after hours of sitting. I haven't had it sleeping long enough to compute it. It moves a little sitting over night but not enough to matter.

Wifi is great!! Gets a full signal from my router better than my xoom. My xoom will have a partial full signal icon while my nexus has a fully filled signal icon, at the same distance from the router. It finds the signal quick too when I turn it on after having it off. No lag.

I like that its uses mini to reg USB for charging as any phone AC charger works too. No need for special cords. It also charges connected to a netbook, laptop, or pc.

The feeling in your hand is nice. The back isnt slippery, it has just a little bit of grip(texture), enough to help hold yet be smooth, but not slick. I never feel like it will slide out of my hands. Its weight is fine to me. Not so light it feels like hollow cheap plastic junk and not to heavy it feels like a brick. To me its just right.

So for 249 and the processor it has and the gigs....its a big bang for the buck.

I cant find anything neg with this tablet.

If you want tv hook up and a ton of extra frill then plan to spend a lot more money for a tablet pc like the larger xoom, thrive, or galaxy. For the basic 7in tablet, this one beats the rest in the line. And no, Android doesn't support flash. Thats an Adobe issue not a product issue. As for apps, between Amazon and Google Play you can find anything. You just have to know how to look for them in the store app.

And unlike kindles, and cheap end tablets, and all pc's, no bloat ware and no in your face ads on the out of box system.

So I recommend the google nexus7, 32 gig. Its just a really nice, well layed out, well made, fast running tab.

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Overview:

=============================================

For a bit of background, I've owned several android phones, iPhones, iPads, etc...I've owned the original nexus phone, HTC EVO, iPhone (1, 3gs, 4s, and now 5), iPad 2 and 3 and a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 WiFi+3G P6800 16GB Silver Unlocked GSM Tablet International Version.Right now, for mobile devices, I own an iPhone 5, iPad 3, and Nexus 7.

I was interested in the Nexus 7 because having owned the Galaxy tab 7.7 (and consequently selling it) I wanted a tablet to use as a carry around tablet that's light and easy to handle.The Nexus 7 perfectly fits my needs... it's reasonably fast, easy to hold in one hand, and the text is crisp and clear.I believe this is the best 7 inch tablet on the market as of right now.The iPad mini will probably sell more due to it being Apple but this Nexus 7 definitely holds its own.Also, as an FYI, I bought my Nexus 7 at Sam's Club... much cheaper than Amazon at least for now!

The Nexus 7 compared to Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 WiFi+3G P6800 16GB Silver Unlocked GSM Tablet International Version

=============================================

Overall the Nexus 7, in my opinion, is superior to the Galaxy 7.7.The only areas where the Galaxy 7.7 may out do the Nexus 7 would be in the screen and the fact that you can get a 7.7 with an option to use it as a phone.That being said, the positives of the Nexus 7, for me, far outweigh the better screen on the 7.7 and the ability to use the 7.7 as a phone (which would seem pretty silly to me anyway)...

The Nexus 7 positives:

=========================

much easier to hold in one hand

easier to read because text is sized more appropriately (on stock software)

battery appears to last much longer than my 7.7 while idling

receives updates to android instantly while with Samsung you'll be waiting

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 WiFi+3G P6800 16GB Silver Unlocked GSM Tablet International Version positives:

=========================

better screen on the 7.7... blacks are much blacker to those who care

ability to use the 7.7 as a phone

Nexus 7 compared to iPad Mini

=============================================

As others have mentioned before, comparing the Nexus 7 to an iPad mini is like comparing apples and oranges since they are separate ecosystems/etc...I'm not going to get in to the pro's and con's of Android vs iOS, but if you had to compare the two tablets just from a pure usability perpective, I'd say that the Nexus 7 edges out the iPad mini slightly (for me) because the Nexus 7 is slightly easier to hold with one hand compared to the iPad mini.When I hold an iPad mini in one hand, my fingers struggle to get all the way around the device to where I feel like I have a comfortable grip.With the Nexus 7, however, my hand fits around it perfectly and I feel like I have a good grip on the tablet even with a Blurex Ultra-Slim Case for Google Nexus 7 inch Tablet -With built in Multi-Angle Stand (Tangelo) + Premium Screen Protector Film attached to it.

Nexus 7 Pros

=============================================

Great one hand holding (with my hands), even with a case attached

Awesome for gaming (I play Shadowgun all the time)

Easy to root... you may not do this but I highly recommend it as it opens up a ton of possibilities like using the tablet with a playstation 3 controller for gaming (via SixAxis Controller app) or using the tablet with an OTG cable to attach flash drives/etc for more storage

Instant updates to latest android software... it took forever for Samsung to put out even ICS for the 7.7 when I had it

Great battery life!I've used my tablet with light to medium use for the better part of a week without having to re-charge it

Nexus 7 Cons

=============================================

Not too many compatible chargers... iPad chargers won't work with it and many chargers are hit and miss... if you get one, make sure to keep the stock charger close by.

You won't get ALL the advanced features with this tablet without tinkering with it, which can be a pain for some people...rooting takes time and so does getting the other 3rd party apps working for using the OTG cable.This is somewhat expected with android devices for me though...

Have to side load many apps since they are listed as not compatible in app store (nba game time, hbo, etc...)

CONCLUSION

=============================================

I've been very happy with my Nexus 7!I patiently waited as rumors swirled around a 32gb release for the Nexus 7 and I'm glad I did.Many of the games/etc can take up a lot of space so having the extra internal strorage space definitely helps out.

In any case, if you have time to root your Nexus 7 and tinker around with it a bit, it'll be like having a PS3 AND Media Player on the go!!! With the use of the SixAxis Controller app, I can use a PS3 controller to play many games from google play, and with the use an OTG cable and apps like stickmount I can attach flash drives or hard drives and load my music and movies on them.While the iPad will always have it's place for me due to my heavy investment in to the iOS ecosystem with itunes match/etc, I'd never be able to do half the things on it that I do with my Nexus 7 and for that I highly recommend it!!!

UPDATE (11-12-2012... many comments about expandable storage so updating with instructions)

=============================================

I noticed another reviewer say that there is no expandable storage.Out of the box, yes, there is no expandable storage as there is no micro sd card slot but there is a way to get expandable storage!!!Please see below for instructions...

Instructions:

1. Root your deviceif you want to use Paragon or Stickmount...(use google for this as there are many instructions out there on how to do it in less than 15-20 mins)

2. Install Paragon exFAT, NTFS & HFS+ (requires root), Stickmount (requires root), or Nexus Media Importer (no root required as another poster commented)... I use Paragon personally as I need access to HFS+ drives (mac).

3. Get a less than $2 OTG cable, you can attach ANY USB flash drive or hard drive.I got this one. eForCity Micro USB OTG to USB 2.0 Adapter Compatible with Google Nexus 7

4. Use any flash or hard drive and plug in to your device

5. Paragon and Stickmount should automatically recognize the drive and mount it

6. Use any file explorer or media player to find your files... each app will mount in a different place but generally somewhere under your sdcard mount

I have my Nexus 7 working with a SanDisk Cruzer Glide 128 GB USB Flash Drive SDCZ60-128G-B35 and Uspeed USB 3.0 Card Reader 8-in-1 for SDXC, SDHC, SD, MMC, RS-MMC, Micro SDXC, Micro SD, Micro SDHC Card support UHS-I combined with Transcend 128 GB SDXC Flash Memory Card (TS128GSDXC10E).That's over 256GB combined of extra storage!!!

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Modified below.I was very excited to try the new mini type tablet. Traded in my HTC EVO for the IPhone 4 this last phone renewal. I was sad to be without my Google apps. I love evaluating all operating systems, so when I decided to get a smaller tablet to fit in my purse, The Nexus 7 with Jelly bean sounded like the way to go.

I have been a techno geek since the Timex 2K and have always updated my system quite frequently. I got this at Walmart, a nice 32K one, so I would stop maxing out memory for my audible books and apps; and I gave my husband my large IPad 1.

This has a beautiful little screen and I downloaded an adorable fish animated desktop that moves with the menu. Very impressive. Got a fabulous case for it that I will add the link to eventually here on Amazon.

I confess I was lost initially with the new operating system, still trying to figure it out actually, but attribute that to my inability, not the system. Got on Google Play and bought a tv series season and was enjoying watching those during down times... However...

I have had it since Dec. 7th 2012 it is now Dec. 25th and it has stopped mid video, with more than 25% power still on, and the screen goes black. It looks totally dead? I press the on off button to see if I can toggle something but there is no way to know if I just turned it off, or turned it on, because there is no action visible on the screen.

The first time it did it. I was ready to take it back in thinking something must have broke inside?Then I picked it up a half hour later and it came back on and appeared to work fine. So I gave it the benefit of the doubt and thought maybe it was uploading an upgrade or something that took the system down.

Tonight in the middle of the Google play series it did it again ...twice? Push buttons like crazy.. wait.. try again... then it came on? The little circle went round and round and then it said the processing system is not responding do you want to wait, report or discontinue. First time I waited.. second time I thought I would discontinue and try rebooting. It is once again dead.. totally dead.. no sign of life.. not just the app, or the connection but the tablet.. a piece of metal and glass.

I love new giggie-gadgets, but they have to at least pretend to work.As much as I have already bought games & movies I am going to have to take this back. I don't know if I got a bad one or this is a ubiquitous problem with the new operating system.

So beware. Not everything is perfect. Sigh

I got a replacement , and there was a world of difference!!!

Apparently I had got a bad one. This connected perfect and fast, downloaded all my former apps within a half hour. So what took me days on the old broken one zipped thru.

So far I have totally enjoyed this and not sorry I replaced it. Will check back in in a few weeks if anything has changed

Apparently the bad one was a fluke.

Party Dimensions Educational Products - Plastic Round TableCovers 84" - 15 Colors -

Party Dimensions Educational Products - Plastic Round TableCovers 84' - 15 Colors -You can get a pretty good section of colors, and it shipped quickly. The light blue is just a bit darker than the picture, which looks baby blue to me, but OK. It's very thin, and will be a one time use tablecloth, therefore I think with shipping it's over priced, by about $5. Look at you local party center for better quality and price.

Thomas & Friends: TrackMaster Risky Rails Bridge Drop

Thomas & Friends: TrackMaster  Risky Rails Bridge DropI bought this for my 5 year old nephew, who simply adores Thomas. It is based on the movie that will be released sometime this year. Even though it was fun seeing Thomas load the rocks at the quarry and then dropping off the bridge, it was hard to set it up. As an adult, I had difficulty setting it up and it is time-consuming. With that said, I don't mind it being time-consuming as long as it remains put together, but I noticed that the tracks didn't remain fitted together and every few minutes kept on popping off which in turn affected the assembly of the other tracks and subtracted the toy's overall enjoyability. The tracks from the other Trackmaster Sets are better than this one. Plus, for its price, it would have been nicer if Fisher-Price designed the crane to be brought back and forth along the zip line automatically instead of manually. My nephew no longer plays with this toy and uses some of the better-fitted tracks to create his own layout in conjunction with his other trackmaster set. I honestly don't recommend this Trackmaster. I hope you find this review helpful.



()

My 4 year old and I saw Thomas & Friends: Blue Mountain Mystery the Movie DVD at the theater and he loved it.He has always been fascinated by bridges and is forever acting out faling bridge scenes with his Thomas sets.Blue Mountain Mystery starts out with scenes from the Blue Mountain quarry, which is a narrow gauge quarry. Thomas And Friends Wooden Railway Rheneas, Thomas the Train: TrackMaster Skarloey, Thomas & Friends: Rusty to the Rescue, and other old-time narrow gauge engines are at the quarry, and start out the movie with a bridge collapse accident.

There are a couple of new characters introduced in the movie, including Merrick the quarry crane and Owen the quarry lift.Merrick is featured in this TrackMaster set and Owen is featured in the Take and Play set Thomas the Train: Take-n-Play the Great Quarry Climb.The box mentions that it is the tallest TrackMaster set and it is indeed tall.

We are more of a wooden railway family, but we have a couple of TrackMaster sets like Thomas the Train: TrackMaster Cranky and Flynn Save the Day Playset and the Misty Island TrackMaster set Thomas the Train: Zip, Zoom, and Logging Adventure).My son is more of a push-the-train railway maven, so he doesn't enjoy the motorized TrackMaster sets as much. To put that into perspective, he's played with his wooden sets for a year and a half, and the TrackMaster sets we've given him get about 3 weeks of play.I saw the Blue Mountain Mystery wooden set in stores but I don't yet see it on Amazon.

I have an "assembly required" scale of 1 to 10:

1 = my husband and I get divorced at the end of it.

10 = we sit back with a warm afterglow of teamwork and accomplishment as our son plays with it.

This is about a 6 on that scale.We didn't get on each other's nerves but it did take some time.Most of the tracks and pieces have letters and numbers on the bottom, and there is one page of the manual that has the b&w stick track layout on it with the numbers on each track and piece.I had the pile of pieces, and my husband would ask for each letter (a couple of pieces annoyed us by not having them!).It took about 20 minutes to get everything set up.Just as with Zip, Zoom, and Logging Adventure, you need a railway engineer to take care of the track once it is built.

We put an AA battery in Thomas and my husband ran our son through the interactive elements.First, we put the `boulder' in Thomas' car, then sent Thomas up the hill to the highest point.He is stopped there and my son was able to lift the top of the car and drop the boulder down a chute.He then tripped a switch that let Thomas continue on, hitting another switch that sent the boulder down the zipline.Thomas then comes around the bend to...BROKEN TRACK!The track collapses under Thomas' weight but of course, Thomas lands safely, accompanied by squeals and cheers all the way.Since it is hard to describe, I have included a video of the action.Just keep your eye on Thomas and not my son's messy playroom.=)

He was fascinated by the keystone coming loose in the movie and causing the bridge to collapse, and although this set doesn't have the keystone and bridge, he found a way to act out that part.There is a piece that clips on to a curving track near the top that gives it rock edges...he shakes the track and gives that a push and it falls off, while he says "oh no, the keystone fell out!"

PROS

-Lots of action

-Interactive elements for my son (switches to change tracks or stop Thomas, car with dumping mechanism, boulder (2 of them), zipline (with Merrick crane release switch), collapsing bridge)

-Huge set (note that although you see it in the video on our Thomas table, it doesn't fit the Thomas table...on the other side it was hanging over the edge supported by a Candyland box)

-It's a good representation of the quarry, complete with Merrick

CONS

-Takes a while to set up (20 mins)

-Some pieces don't have numbers/letters

-If you don't set it up right, which can be fairly easy since there are so many pieces, it will come loose and Thomas won't travel the rails correctly.I reversed two pieces and my husband had to fix it when we had problems.

-If your child doesn't enjoy being a railway engineer and putting things back together, he or she could get frustrated with this toy.

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My son got this for his birthday..after the entire hour of fighting with instructions, parts, and keeping it together it was finally finished! My son put his trains on and as they went the whole thing collapsed. The pieces do not snap together well enough to keep the thing together. It is a waste money! I do not recommend buying this unless you plan on super gluing the pieces together.

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Do not bother with this one.

First of all, it took FOREVER to set up. They need to hire some writers/diagram people who are native English speakers and who have decent art skills. I ended up using the picture on the box more than the diagram. There are so many pieces that it's completely ridiculous. Many of these pieces could have been made as one part, so I'm seriously questioning the intelligence of the person who designed this.

As your child plays, the set will come apart every single time Thomas climbs the hill or goes down the dropoff thing.In fact, when he goes over the dropoff he flips over and your child will have to manually set him back up. Basically the set doesn't work in the way it was designed at all.

It doesn't fit together well. There are pieces that are clearly mean to snap together, but instead just kind of loosely fit. They're wobbly and fall apart constantly.

There is one piece that constantly falls off and doesn't seem to serve any real purpose.

The set doesn't fit, so stuff isn't lined up correctly. And again, pieces don't snap together where they're supposed to. The tracks just kind of precariously balance on top of the tower things.

We were all nearly in tears by the time we got it put together, and were so hoping it would at least be worth it. Nope. As I said, the toy doesn't even work right once you put in all that time and effort.

Definitely DEFINITELY skip this one.Not worth the time or price and it's a piece of junk. Very disappointed kid on Christmas day.

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()This is a great set, lots of fun for all ages and both genders, with plenty of opportunity for imaginative play.Like all of the Trackmaster sets, it can be configured a variety of ways and the parts integrated with other Trackmaster track to make even more train layouts.It comes with a Thomas engine and a side loading car to haul the two included "boulders." If there are any drawbacks, it is that is is BIG.You will need some floorspace to set this one up, probably around a 3 ft X 3ft space, not counting kid room.It's pretty tall, too, with two levels above floor level.It's worth the real estate though.There is a nifty zip line delivery system for the boulders, a chute they roll down to load into the zip tram, a pick-up station at the bottom of the "mountain", and of course the drop down bridge.The bridge isn't really so much a bridge as a ramp that drops the train down to the track one level below.We had a little trouble keeping the bridge aligned on multiple trips down at first.This is probably because we were set up on a thick textured carpet as well as the fact that the "conductors" were a bit rambunctious as they moved around the set to play.Even then, the high sides on the bottom track caught the drop well enough to allow the train to pass without a wreck.Once I tweaked our position on the rug, the problem was solved.My conductors are aged 18 mos. and 3 ½. (Small parts may not be suitable for all younger kids, we always have close supervision and have no problems.)The parts are easy to put together, both kids can do it, and they snap securely so clumsy toddler moves don't cause it to fall apart.I definitely needed the instructions, even after the first set-up.You'll want to keep them for a while with this set as there are some unique pieces that only assemble in one spot.The kids have spents hours playing with this, both alone and with others.They like to see how many trains they can get going at the same time without a pileup.Educational values include socialization, roleplaying, planning and visualization to assemble track layouts, cause and effect experiments.

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Chuggington Interactive All Around Railway Set

Chuggington Interactive All Around Railway SetMy son got this train set for his 3rd Birthday. He is a HUGE Chuggington fan. There are some very nice things about this set, and some not so nice things.

On the plus side, the trains and the larger elements (train shed, crane, gate) are all battery operated, and have some sort of proximity sensor. When they get near each other, interesting things happen. Each item has a few different pre-recorded sounds and phrases. When Wilson gets near Action Chugger, for example, they might say hi to each other.

The recognition of the toys for each other is a cool feature, and my son absolutely LOVES it!

On the other hand, the track is a bit of a pain. The snap connection for the tracks is a little hard to figure out, though shockingly my 3 year old son is able to put them together (though not take them apart). There's an elevated corkscrew which is a great idea, but the supports aren't solid enough (in terms of their connections to other pieces) to hold up to play, the pieces kept coming apart for us and having to be put back together.

The plastic train cars have some nice detail to them. However they have a ball-and-socket style joiner which you snap together, which I really don't like. There are other age-appropriate trains which have magnetic couplings which I think are much friendlier.

All in all, if you have sixty dollars you want to spend on train toys, I might encourage you to take a closer look at other options.

Pro:

Neat sensors in major pieces detect other pieces / trains and say appropriate phrases

Nice details on the trains and some of the other pieces

Individual pieces seem sturdy enough

Con:

Track is a bit hard to assemble / disassemble sections

The elevated section doesn't seem to stay assembled well during play

I personaly don't like the ball-and-socket style couplings used on the trains.

This was the first Chuggington set we purchased when it first came out in the US earlier this year.My son LOVES his Chuggington set and owns all of the trains and a few more of the packs so when connected it takes up most of our living room floor.He plays with it 3 4 times a week, which is pretty good for him.At first (around 2.5 years old) he had a hard time connected the track pieces and we contemplated buying some wooden track.Just as I did, I noticed he was able to put the flat peices together on his own so I returned the wooden tracks which are WAY more expensive.Now at 3 years old he is able to lay the track as he wants, but does need help with the elevated portions.The braces for the corkscrew portion could be better, but it does work.I would highly reccomend this set even with its drawbacks.My son loves to play with his trains and thinks it is so cool that they talk to each other and the interact with the train stops.

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Do not buy this toy. It's frustrating to put together. It is so poorly made, the tracks don't stay connected very well. They run on Thomas tracks so buy the trains individually. Otherwise it's not worth the money. I found the same starter set at Target for 39.99.

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PROS: Totally interactive. My son *is* a fan of moving the train by himself, so this isn't an issue. He gets excited when he hears the phrases and music. It promotes his imagination in that regard and he develops story lines with the trains. I haven't seen him do that with his other sets.

CONS: The trains snap onto the carts and eachother with a plastic ball (not the magnet) this is actually kind of tough to snap and unsnap and frustrates my son.

The plastic track pieces are on the flimsy side and are not easy to snap into place. It took me a while (reading the directions and looking at the box) to figure how to rig up the twisty ramp, which isn't all that stable especially when you have a kid pushing a train along...But when you move away from wood to plastic all of them seem cheaper by comparison.

Recommendation: On clearance, this set is a steal. I would definitely consider giving this one as a gift to a child aged 2-3 in the "pre-motorized" age group as the trains must be moved manually.

This set has three "stops" (most seem to have one or none) and my son stops his train to play at all three. He likes to put the trains to bed and wake them up at the roundhouse. He loads the carts at the loading dock trying to use the pincher and get them to drop into place really allow him to practice dexterity. And he even likes the station at the top of the ramp because he can close the gate on them and not let the train pass. I like that he is engaged and that the phrases encourage him to stop and "do something" at the different zones. It is also nice because he doesn't miss out on having someone else play with him or help direct his play because of the interactive nature of the toy.

We have the famous blue train and my son has fun with that because he can make his own tracks the wooden pieces are easy for him to place, but he loses interest after the set is up on his table for a few days. We have the "cars" track which my son loves because he can race all his favorite characters from the movie along the track by remote control but this requires help from mommy or daddy and isn't something he can do by himself at 2 and a half years old. I think this Chuggington set supplements what we already have and is really in its own class.

I will caution like all other train sets to enhance play (ie. keep it interesting) you will likely have to shell out more money to buy the other trains and to add "stations" (like the rock quarry, etc.) However, that said, all sets seem to grow and the components for interactive Chuggington can be bought at discount stores for a lot less than the "blue" wooden one.

UPDATE: I have found lots of other engines and the quarry and chug wash at Marshalls, so keep an eye out in discount stores for reduced price add-ons. Also, we've had the set up and down at least three times since we purchased it in April and thus far it has held up really well. Usually after a few weeks when the interest has sort of slumped, we switch out the track on the train table but I noticed my son keeps pulling the engines out to make a long train stretch across his room, so I definitely feel the other trains are a good investment.

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This set consists of 4 major components: The roundhouse with interactive Vee, interactive Wilson which adds some value to an expensive set, a bi-level loop with elevated pickup point, and a crane station.While overall the set is enjoyable, there are some major flaws: Interactive Vee, while impressive in many ways such as the lighted voice loop, has a somewhat limited vocabulary for the center piece unit of the set.The US voice of Vee pails by comparison to her UK counterpart, and the overall voice acting is poor.The major loop feature, while interesting, is very unstable and requires constant repair by an adult in order for play to continue unabated.It would have been a simple fix to make a stable single base for all the elements of the loop.Home hobbyists can correct this oversight with sheet of hard plastic and some epoxy resin.The pickup station at the top of the loop, while appreciated, is simple and unexciting.The crane lacks a joint to make it mobile enough for enjoyable use and Vee interacts with the crane poorly. The tracks themselves are not pretty, but have some give which makes them forgiving for toddler use.The roundhouse, other than the Vee voice, is inferior to the die-cast set in that it lacks bay doors and only has 3 bays.The Vee figure does not "snap tight" to the roundhouse and is constantly falling over.

Fortunately, it is still possible to have a 5-star experience with this set by also buying the interactive Chug wash set.That adds a washer that interacts beautifully with Vee, and a fill up station that also interacts very well with Vee.It also doesn't hurt to buy lots of box cars to go along with your favorite engines.The sum of the Train depot and Chugwash sets are greater than their individual parts, and this is definitely by design.Be prepared to fork out the big bucks for some grade A fun.My 3-year-old played with the set all day long and I could overlook the short cominings of the set because of that.

Update: The interactive feature is nice but the track mostly sits there after about a week.For longer interest consider whether you would be more happy with a wooden train set and table.I upgraded to wooden and sorta wish I had this money to use to buy all the cool wood sets out there, but on the other hand I would have never known until I owned.We did get thier interest back by making the set into a simple loop on tiny coffee table, and getting rid of all the elevated parts.Simple is better!

The train table braced the old Chuggington set nicely, and it no longer collapses during play.My 3-year old spotted a brio starter forest set at TOyz R Us and I picked it up for 14 dollars.He played with it by flashlight.It was Christmas all over again.

Suprise discovery: The interactive trains ride on the starter Brewster/Wilson wooden railway.Traintastic!

MENSA 10 Minute Crossword Puzzles 2013 Desk Calendar

MENSA 10 Minute Crossword Puzzles 2013 Desk Calendar
  • MENSA 10 Minute Crossword Puzzles 2013 Desk Calendar
  • Format: Desk
  • Size Closed: 6.25 " x6.25 "Size Opened: 6.25 " x6.25 "Grid Size: Jumbo Square
  • Binding: Adhesive
  • Publisher: Workman Publishing

My husband was pleased with the gift. It takes a little more than 10 minutes, but he still enjoys it.

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I first got the 2012 version of this calendar as a gift and when I could not find the 2013 issue in stores, I ordered it on line.It is as good as the 2012 version and I received it quickly.

Thomas And Friends Wooden Railway - Misty IslAnd Adventure Set

Thomas And Friends Wooden Railway - Misty IslAnd Adventure SetI usually have pretty good luck sticking to the wooden Thomas sets, but lately they are putting more plastic parts on them and really making the tracks smaller and too close together. The bridge on this did not work as soon as we put it together, you turn the knob and it moves a little, gets stuck, moves a little. Not fun and quite rage inducing for a toddler. I returned it immediately. This is way overpriced for what you get, don't be fooled by the pictureit's really small and the tracks are very close together, the tunnel is so tiny it has to be positioned just right for the engine to even go under, and several wooden freight cars won't fit under it at all. I'm always surprised at the good reviews for any of the plastic thomas items, like the trackmaster and take n' play sets. They never work the way they should and fall apart if you look at them wrongnow it seems the wooden ones are becoming the same way. I have a continually disappointed 4 year old crying because the toys don't functionnot fun to deal with!

I am very disappointed with this. The bridge gears/mechanical parts are very cheaply made. Bought this as a X-Mas present for my 3 year old son who loves Thomas and Misty Island Rescue. We were never able to get the bridge to work. The worm gear on the bridge does not seat correctly and the whole thing slips. I took it apart and the gears are small plastic junk that's not heavy duty enough to pull the bridge decking. The loading crane also came apartthough it can be out back together easily. We bought the Expansion Bridge and it too fell apart soon after purchase. We have some of the older Thomas stuff and it's held up well, but I will not buy anymore stuff from learning curve until I know it's not cheap junk. Hard to admit but I think the train stuff made for/ sold by Toys R Us is better.

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If you don't want to go through the trouble of fixing it, then read my next paragraph about why you should not buy this. If you're feeling adventurous, my fixes turns this into a really fun, frustration free toy. My rating is based upon the unaltered toy. I'd give it 4-5 stars after I fixed it, with possibly one star removed because of the effort I had to go through to make this worth playing with.

Learning Curve made a huge mistake when they used plastic for the gears and worm drive on the bridge. It feels terrible when you try to move the stage from one side of the bridge to the other. It gets semi-stuck many times and you have to force it by pushing harder. It won't go at all, really, unless you are bracing the whole unit with the other hand. The gears can continue to be cranked even after the stage has reached the other side, which is undoubtedly wearing the gears down. I've read a lot of reviews since I bought this and the final verdict is that the bridge will break at some point in the first year if you children are playing with it a lot. Another problem is that, even if it did work perfectly, the novelty of moving the stage quickly dies and your left with a feeling of frustration that you can't just simply drive across the bridge. There's only enough space for two train cars at a time, so forget being able to link up more than two at a time.

Also, the banked curve after the bridge is a neat idea, but doesn't work correctly because the curved pieces are designed to lay flat and not angle downwards. So unless its aligned perfectly and stays that way while playing with it (never going to happen), their edges don't line up which forces every train to drive off the tracks even when pushing it really slowly (the front outer wheel catches the lip and rides over and out).

STOP reading unless you want instructions on how to fix to toy.

These fixes will produce a solid track across the bridge and permanently install the banked curve so that it can't shift around. You need some carpentry/hobbyist experience. You'll also lose the three straight pieces that came with the kit, so you need to buy some replacement pieces if you want the exact design on the box and don't have pieces from other sets to spare. It's a lot of work for a toy, but my opinion is that its a lot of fun to play with afterwards and adds a lot to the Thomas layout, so its worth it.

Need:

-the 3 straight tracks from the set (2 large, 1 small)

-Dremel with a cut-off wheel or heavy duty snips

-wood glue

-construction glue (Liquid Nails or some other brand that is good for wood and plastic)

-10 panhead wood screws, 3/8" length (not including the head)

-thin spacers (plastic washers are fine)

-drill bit

-pin nailer (optional, but a good idea if you have one)

-clamp that has at least 15" clamping space

-miter saw (or hand saw, but the cut won't be as clean)

Bridge:

Takes about 1 hour, not including drying or setup time.

The screws need a triangle bit (which nobody owns) and some of them are very hard to remove without the correct bit. Rather than take the bridge apart, use a Dremel with a cut-off wheel and cut through the center of the moveable stage. Be careful not to cut too deep or you will cut through the center of the bridge itself. 1/4" depth is about perfect. I inserted the Dremel between the bars so that it lay flat and pushed the moveable stage through for better control over the cut. Alternatively, you can cut through it with angle snips or any other heavy duty scissor. The second method is harder and more awkward but, unless you have a lot of Dremel experience and can easily keep the tool from getting away from you and cutting pieces that shouldn't be cut, just use the snips.

Apply wood glue to both ends of the small track and attach the longer pieces on either end. You may need to shave the male end part down a bit to ensure that the whole ends are solidly contacting for gluing. Make sure the tracks are aligned properly and clamp in place for drying. I shot pins at angles through each side where the small and large pieces come together for added security. Do not shoot with a brad or finish nailer, you will probably split the wood. Give it an hour or two to dry.

Use the miter saw and cut to size. You want to make sure that the small track piece will lay over a bridge brace. To ensure this, I cut just above the female end and then took off a bit more on the male end. You need this track piece to lay in tight, so don't try to measure the cut mark. Instead, after you've cut the female end, mark it in place where the cut should be on the male end.

Turn the bridge over and drill two clearance holes on each cross brace just to the left and right of the long center brace. The screw should just about go through, but its head should not. Flip it back over. Place the track section on the bridge and line it up. Mark the braces along each side of the track with a pencil. Then flip the track 90 degree up and mark the bottom of the track where the center of each brace will contact the track (on the curbs of the road side). You'll notice that it sits a bit low. I don't know if everybody's tracks will sit at the same height. Mine was about 3/32" low. Find the size spacer you need to flush the track to the bridge, leaving a tiny space (about 1/32") for the glue. I used 1/16" plastic sheet as spacers. Place a small dab of construction glue on one side of each spacer and glue each spacer to each brace so that it touches but does not go over the lines you drew. The idea is not to see the spacers when you look down at the finished product. Now, place a tiny dab (super thin amount) of construction glue on the spots you marked on the roadside curbs, a thin sheet of construction glue on the edge of the plastic track on the bridge, a thin sheet of wood glue on the edge of the wooden track on the bridge, and set the track into place. Do not use a lot of glue or it will squish out and be seen. It is only to align and keep the track in place for installing the screws. Let it set for a couple of hours.

Turn the bridge upside down. Using the proper sized drill bit, center over each hole in the braces and carefully drill a starting hole for the screws. Don't push down with the bit or let the weight of the drill sit on the track or you'll pop the track off the bridge. You may have to drill through the spacer, but that doesn't matter. Do not drill past 3/8" (including the brace and spacer in total height) or your bit will come out the other side of track. Drop a tiny dab of construction glue in each hole (fill the hole about a quarter up). Partially screw in each screw by hand (an electric screwdriver can easily overdrive these screws) so that the heads just touch the braces but are not tight against them. Then, cycle through each screw in a circle doing 1/4 turns until the screws are tight. Not too tight or you will bend and then crack the plastic braces. The construction glue should have squeezed out of the hole somewhat, but not enough to be seen unless you have the bridge upside down and are looking at it from an angle. The glue acts as a threadlock. Clean up any mess if you have any.

Banked Curve:

need:

-chisel set

-knife

-sandpaper

-wood glue

-construction glue

-pin nailer

-small thin sheet of wood (~1/4" thick)

-small clamp

Unless, the 4 curved pieces are aligned flawlessly, the trains prefer to derail and go over the edge. They'll never stay aligned, so it's better to fix them in place. Besides the drying time, fixing the banked curve takes about 40 minutes. The plastic risers are designed to go in only one direction, be careful that you have it set up right before making the adjustments.

You may need to sand each male end part down a bit so that the 4 curved tracks can contact edge to edge. I call piece #1, the curved piece that attaches to the bridge, #2 is next to that and so on. I set up the whole section and attached it to the bridge and the ramp. You'll probably need to custom your plan, but here's what I ended up doing:

#1 and #2 were glued and pin nailed together on a flat surface. So were #3 and #4. After they dried, I put the two sections together and connected them to the bridge. The connection between #2 and #3 will be off. Glue it in the position required for a good bank, ignoring that the track curbs and rails are going to be off a bit. Clamp in place until dry. Pin nail after it dries. Then, use your chisel set, knife, and sandpaper to reshape the high sections to match the low sections. First, I cut a line on both sides of the track grooves with my knife to the proper depth and thenused a very small chisel to smoothly transition the track grooves. The reshape section was about 1/2" in length to smooth the transition. Most of the smoothing was done with sand paper. I spent a lot of time here to get it right.

Glue a thin sheet of wood onto the bottom of the wooden riser so that it is just above the height you need to align #4 and the ramp (mine was about 3/16"). After it dries, sand it down to the correct height so that #4 aligns with the ramp just right. This is easier then trying to find the perfect spacer.

Now, shape #1 where it contacts the bridge if you feel the need. Mine was a little off, but didn't affect the train's motion, so I left it alone. Don't shape the bridge piece itself because you may want to add track pieces directly off the bridge someday. For the same reason, don't glue or otherwise permanently fix the banked curve section to the ramp track or the bridge itself.

Lastly, set everything up and use construction glue to glue the tracks to the plastic risers. Don't glue to the bridge or the wooden riser because you can add different track sections there for various layouts. You can screw them down if you want like I did on the bridge, but there's a large gluing surface on each riser for good contact, so it isn't necessary.

You're looking at about 1.6 hours work time plus the dry and setup time, which is maybe 4-5 hours total.

Read Best Reviews of Thomas And Friends Wooden Railway - Misty IslAnd Adventure Set Here



My son kept saying he wanted a train set with a bridge and I happened to find this.It is kinda pricy but we got it on sale.It's important to note that you have to manually crank one part of the bridge which means that the battery operated trains don't really work unless your child is fast and coordinated.It's a well made durable set and it works well with all his Thomas stuff.I would recommend it but wish I had realized the part about the log bridge.

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It looks really nice but the plastic Thomas trains that fit on the wood tracks do not fit through the bridge.The tracks that go on the supports always fall off....so we never use them.The sound never worked.

The good things about this track...

1. It is set up for small spaces

2.The bridge is pretty cool

3.My son loves it because it is "Misty Island"

4.I am thankful I didn't pay full price!

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Teamson Design Corp.- Chair Set

Teamson Girls Set of 2 Chairs - Crackled Rose Room CollectionI understand where the other reviewer is coming from with the two star review. One of the chairs that I ordered for my daughter's room did not align. I called up Teamson customer service and they immediately sent me out the seat bottom that was the issue. With the new seat bottom everything went together perfectly. A+ for quick customer service.

Now on to the table and chair. It is so much nicer than any other kids table and chair set I've seen and my wife and I looked at a lot. There is such cheap stuff at the large chains and we thought we would be condemned to one of those sets as our daughter wasn't ready for a desk in her room. We wanted a table and chair but we wanted something that held up to all the other furniture in the room. This set accomplishes that on every level. It has been durable as well as I can't see any chips in the paint after three months and it has gotten use.

Due to the slight miscue with the alignment (and knowing that somebody else has experienced the same thing) would usually have me rate a product as 3 or at most 4 stars. However, because of the very simple replacement process and the exceptional quality of this product I'm going 5 stars all the way.

The holes do not line up for constructing these chairs. I think it might be a flaw with this whole brand. I bought a kitchen for my 2 year old that my father had to alter in order for it to line up.

The chairs however are so off in the drilling it is ridiculous. Not to mention that we bought the table that matched this thinking it came with the chairs since they are in the picture.Now I'm stuck trying to find different chairs.

I gave it two stars because they are cute chairs...just not as cute packed up in a box being sent back!

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JOOLA Magic 40mm Practice Table Tennis Balls, 48-Count (Orange)

JOOLA Magic 40mm Practice Table Tennis Balls, 48-CountI am very happy with these balls.Very nice quality.I purchased the 48 pack to test the quality before buying a gross.Sense these are quality, I'll buy a gross next time.

These are good quality practice balls and are very consistent. Like others have said, they are supposed to be 2 star balls but are better than some 3 stars I have used. I am using them in a newgy 2050 robot and they work very well. I will likely be buying more of these for robot practice since they are a very good price. The box was a bit beat up and torn when I received them but I can look past this since there was no damage to the balls themselves.

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I purchased this item for $8 and the magic balls are pretty solid.I think they are two star balls but they are better than most two stars i have played with.Stiga's 2-stars are in no comparison and many that have played with it thought they were 3-stars.I use them for multiball practice and service practice.For $.16 a ball it is a steal.

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These two star balls are round and fly/bounce true. This is the first time I have bought orange and I like the color too.

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These ping pong balls are exactly as described.Perfect for the recreational user.In retrospect, however, since I have no need for any type of 'quality' ping pong ball,I would defiantly have purchased one of the bulk cases available on Amazon of 144 balls.

Girls Table or Desk Lamp with Lavender Pleated Shade

Girls Table or Desk Lamp with Lavender Pleated Shade
  • Table lamp with a cute lavender pleated shade
  • White Resin lamp base (matte finish)
  • Actual Size: H: 17- Inch ;W: 9.25-Inch L: 9.25 Inch
  • Uses 40 Watt Type A Bulb (not included)
  • 6' Power Cord with on/off Switch On Cord - UL Listed

Beautiful lamp! The color was what I expected and it's a very sturdy fixture. It was for our 2 year old daughters room so I was concerned it might tip over. But when I unpacked them they were heavy enough not to tip but not too heavy to hurt if it did.

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I'm doing a bedroom in purple and trying to find something traditional looking, but yet colorful and fun was providing to be a challenge.When I found these, I caught my breath and said "Yes! That's what I'm looking for."I put one on either side of the bed and it works.

Disney Pixar's Cars The Movie Erasable Activity Table and Chairs

Disney Pixar's Cars The Movie Erasable Activity Table and Chairs
  • Recommended Age: 3 - 7 years

Very sturdy construction. Chairs lock open, as do the table legs.

No assembly required.

Perfect for children ages 2-6.

Easy to clean up. Easy to store.

Currently own two sets and use them everyday.

No problems.

Paid $42.00 at toys r us. (Not a sale, normal price)

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I bought this table and chairs set for my 2 year old Grandson and i am so happy with it...No worries if he will catch his little fingers folding up the table or chairs with the snap locks.Very sturdy i highly recommend this set. I did choose not to give him the wipe off dry erase markers...did not want him getting the wrong idea to write on other tables.

Carrom 042.01 Nok-Hockey Equipment Set

Carrom 042.01 Nok-Hockey Equipment SetI just received the two sticks and pucks. Unfortunatelly the sticks are plastic and not WOOD as it says in the product features of the item. Booo!

These sticks are plastic and need to be straightened after a bit of use. There is a company that makes sticks made of maple, but the angle is all wrong. These two companies need to get together and work out a proper Nok Hockey stick

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Sturdy, well-made, and a nice change from playing video games/electronics for my kids!Can be used indoors or even taken outdoors for kid to play.Recommended!

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this was an easy purchase, bought it, and it was mailed to us in a few days. All good. Thanks.

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I made a beautiful home madeknock hockey board and these sticks and pucks completed the gift for my kids with out the extra work of making my own. They were also a nicelypriced.

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Magic: the Gathering - Phantasmal Dragon - Magic 2012

Magic: the Gathering - Phantasmal Dragon - Magic 2012OH MY GOD is that A 5/5 with flying for four mana !?!?! oh....... its dies if it is targeted by a spell or ability wait wait wait what is that? lord of the unreal? that give the phantasmal dragon +1+1 and hexproof so its a 6/6 flying with HEXPROOF!? for four mana!!?! nnnnnnnoooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yup one of the greatest combos in magic phantasmal dragon and lord of the unreal its truly a awsomecombo for two and four mana yeah

Activity Table with 50-piece Wooden Train Set

Activity Table with 50-piece Wooden Train SetCute table. Easy to assemble. The size is not as listed though. It's 31x31. It comes with a track which is nice. It's not huge but I actually quite like the smaller size so we will keep it!! Anything less than 31" would be way to short either way though. The drawer holds a lot of track and pieces. Good buy overall for the price!

Super easy to set up and is a convenient size if you have a limited size space to work with.It's nice to have a drawer built into the table, though it's not very big.The only thing I wish the table has was some landscape painted on it, it's just plain green.I may paint my own scenery on there...

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We've had this table 2 years & the kids still love it.We use it for trains, coloring, eating, the kids sit on it & make it their car it's fantastic.The drawer is a perfect place for all of my sons little cars & trucks too.

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Bought this for my 3-year-old for Christmas! He LOVES it! Perfect size for his room and family room. Light enough to move around easily. EAsy to put together. Drawer is smaller but still holds plenty.Table is just tall enough to put toy totes underneath for easy storage out of the way. He uses it for his cars, legos, and blocks too.-The engine on the train is battery operated and runs through batteries like crazy.That is the only thing i would complain about, but it can still be pushed manually which is what we planned on him doing in the first place so it's not big deal.

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The 32"x32" size is perfect for our small living room. The table went together in about 40 minutes with no problems. Got two more for each of my grandchildren.

Dressed Monchhichi Girl Pink 8" by Gund

Dressed Monchhichi Girl Pink 8' by GundIt was perfect.She is brand new.She is soft and sweet, just the way I remembered them as a little girl.

I ordered this for my girlfriend.She had been remembering that she had one of these as a child, and said she would like to have one again.She was so excited when I gave it to her!Just like back in the 80's!Very happy with the product!

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they look so cute~and shipping is fast.just like what i usually bought in china ,but it is much cheaper~~~i love those!

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Alex Rider 6" Figure - Alex Rider

Alex Rider 6' Figure - Alex RiderMy son asked for this action figure for Christmas, and I didn't even know they existed!Boy was I lucky I decided to search Amazon.Thanks for rushing this in time for Christmas for me!



I enjoyed the Alex Rider movie OPERATION STORMBREAKER for its own sake, but I found that both the fictional character and the actor who portrayed him, Alex Pettyfer also proved to be excellent archetypes for a fictional character that I'd developed independently from childhood, drawing upon similar Anglo-Saxon-Celtic norms. Thus I was delighted to find and buy the Alex Rider figure with the tan jacket, but this version with the black jacket and formal white shirt I like even better. (That says something because I like earth tones a lot and black not at all when it comes to clothing.)

This figure I find somewhat easier to pose in the upper body (the jacket isn't as restrictive), and while I still say no summer blond should have to be subjected to wearing black, the cut of this outfit makes Alex Rider look very dignified like the young James Bond he is. The figure is well-sculpted, well-colored and dynamically posed.

A Vandal Savage action figure I have lost its sword and scabbard by accident. Both have much black in their design. A little putty and I can equip this figure to look like my own literary creation by putting the sword on his back. So equipped, a friend and I agree that he looks like he could command the 7-inch wrestling champs I've been photographing him with for my own purposes he actually looks more intelligent and dangerous than they, even though they're twice as massive or more.

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Suretrack Clips

Suretrack ClipsI recently bought an Imaginarium train table and train set for my son for his 3rd birthday.It has an elevated part that doesn't stay together well at all and fell apart whenever he tried to use it.The real problem though was his 16-month-old brother, who would tear the entire set apart every time he came near it.Then both would be hitting each other with track pieces.

I realized in short order we had no choice but to secure the track somehow, but I HATED the idea of making it permanent.I plan on adding some Thomas pieces in the near future, and didn't want the table/track to be ruined with nail holes or glue.

When I went online looking for alternative do-it-yourself methods, I stumbled across the Suretrack Clips.At first I was hesitant to order them because:

1) There was only one review of them on Amazon.Sure it was a glowing review, but it is difficult to judge a product based on one person's opinion.

2) I had never seen them or heard of them before.If they're so great, shouldn't everyone be using them?

3) I have off-brand track.The manufacturer lists several brands of track the clips are compatible with (including the ever-popular Brio and Thomas) but not mine.

In the end, I ordered two boxes, and boy am I glad I did!They work great!It took me about 10 minutes to do our whole train set, and after that my 16-month old played with the set for nearly an hour without breaking apart a single piece (previous record was literally under two minutes).I am really amazed that something so simple and non-destructive to the set can work so well.

I do have some advice though.Because the product is relatively inexpensive, shipping for one box can be as much as 70% of the price of the item itself. And if you're clipping the whole train set, you're likely to need more than one box anyway.So go ahead and save on shipping by figuring out how many boxes you'll need and ordering them all at once.

Alternatively, you can just clip the elevated parts of your train set, because these are the pieces that fall apart the most.In this case, you can probably get away with one box.

I purchased these to hold together the track on my daughter's Costco train table set.The wooden pieces came apart so easily that I was debating glueing or nailing her track together. I saw the Suretrack set on a Thomas the Train website and decided to order them here on Amazon.I only ordered one set as I wasn't sure if they would fit the Costco set.Luckily they fit like a glove.They work miraculously!They don't get in the way of the trains but hold the pieces together firmly.These hold so well that even the elevated pieces stay together when the trestles are knocked over.I strongly recommend the Suretrack for wooden railroad owners.They give you the ability to change layouts while allowing your child to play with a sturdy, durable track.

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I'll echo the sentiments in the earlier reviews.If you have a young child (say 2-3 years old) they will bump and potentially knock over/disconnect sections of the elevated tracks.ALSO note that if you are using the Nilo tables with the Jax extensions (great for 3'x4' table layouts where you want an elevated section ACROSS the table or want to use a 'T' switch where you need room for just ONE MORE section of track).I basically would not use the Jax extensions with young children (2-3)without the Suretrack clips.After working through a couple of different layouts on train tables you'll see what I mean it's about 4" too narrow to incorporate any of the elevated bridge going *across* the short length of the table without using Jax with Suretrack clips to add that one additional section.

Other hints:

Suretrack clips also help to keep the battery-powered engines on-track particularly on the down-side of the elevated sections where there is typically a curve involved (on train tables anyway).One carefully placed Sureclip will work nicely to keep the wheel from jumping out of the track.I have been able to create a battery-power-compatible train table using Sureclips at the key places where derailments occur.

Use the BRIO Super Supports for elevated sections (Suretrack clips just fit inside of them).For narrow layouts, use the short curves, particularly for the 'Y' pieces but you will need the Suretrack clips if using battery-powered engines as the trains will want to jump the track at the junction between the two pieces of track.

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I purchased a box of this to try with my daughter's Melissa and Doug train-set; now I am purchasing three more boxes.I've never worked with model trains, but I guess that we need a clip for every piece of track because we have to build on carpet.I did find that the instructions didn't tell me everything that I needed to know in order to use the clips easily.You need to slide the clip into place, not snap it into place.

1. Slide the clip completely onto the female piece of track.

2. Place the male piece of track; the clip should not be in the way.

3. Slide the clip back a little so that it is centered over the junction of the two pieces of track.

When I do it that way, it's pretty slick.

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overall I would say that i was pleased, they are durable, they work, easy to use... but,

First off i think they are over priced nearly a dollar a piece! that's too much! it certainly doesn't cost a tenth of that to manufacture. because they have no competitors they can charge that.

secondly, the track still falls apart on occasion and i am back fixing the problem. even when my toddler is trying to "play nice" it still breaks some times. sometime he takes the track clips as a personal challenge to get the pieces apart, but that's not a manufacturing error.

thirdly they don't play nice with the imaginarium spiral train set. they are not compatible, they are too wide for the support columns.

still pleased overall

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