Zoomer Dino Boomer

Lovely creature. Though I bought Boomer the Zoomer Dino for Xmas, I couldn't wait to try him out when my two daughters aged 8 and 6 were off to school. He needed to be charged first, that takes about 1 hour until his orange eyes pop to green and then you can switch him on. Do read the instruction sheet first, that will spare you some disappointments and head scratching. Even then, it took me a full session of half an hour to figure out how to handle him with the different modes. Be patient ! He is quite slower than on the advert video (the advertising team probably had to pump as many features as possible into some costly few seconds) but he still is reactive. After I switched him on, I thought "well ok so that's it ?" but after spending some time with him, he conquered my heart ! That's also why you should read the instructions before switching him on in order to know the basics of the different modes, at least. The Dino is of strong facture, but his mouth seems a little fragile and I am not sure to which extent one has to be careful. He has sensors on his nose and a button on his back (called "the back button"). He brought an egg-shaped remote control with him (3 AA batteries not included), which allows you to choose the "RC mode" (yellow eyes), take control over him and make Dino run (joy-stick-like button), chomp, move his head/tail, get angry ("angry button"). The "curious mode" (blue eyes) is my favourite, he will follow your hand and snuggle in your face (provided you are lying on the floor) with very cute little sounds. Worth a kiss on his nose (well, avoid the sensors). The "gesture mode" (purple eyes) allows you to take control over him again but still is somewhat tricky to me, apart from having him "sit down", and then I don't know how to get him back up apart from pushing his back button… Well, it's also nice to have some discoveries ahead, wouldn't you say ? Like the "chasing feature" adverted in the clip for instance, no idea how to get that one. Yet. Boomer runs fine on low carpet and wooden floors. Mind the slippery floors (will fall over) and high carpets (won't move an inch). Sandy pathways or wet terraces are certainly a no go as well, as dirt will get into his wheels and grip the mechanics. Pros: - charges through USB cord (PC or wall), no costly batteries. Worth a star and helped me in my decision to buy Boomer instead of another interactive toy. - Boomer can live on his own: just to watch him wandering around is fun and you discover features (he dances a few seconds, says hello, burps, farts, sings a few seconds, makes dino sounds). However, I have no idea if those features can be obtained by gesture mode as well, the instruction sheet is not helpful for that matter: only basics of the basics are reported on the instruction sheet. - the remote controller is a big plus, but you need some training to get used to it or else Boomer will zooooom away really fast. - Boomer makes many different sounds, I don't dare say "realistic sounds" as I have no clue about that (do you ?), they are nice, cute and not too loud. You do hear the bzzzz from the engine inside when he moves, but it's not a nuisance at all. - There is no vocal mode with this Dino: he does not hear what you tell him. However gestures and the RC are self-sufficient. No voice, no yelling at him, no despair through misunderstandings. Sounds perfect to me ! So, if you read "language: English" on the parcel, it does not mean much in Dino's case. You can buy him in any country really. The Instruction sheet is (very) multilingual. Cons: (that really don't outweight the pros): - charging takes 1 hour for around half an hour of playtime (most reviewers on other websites say 20 minutes). But you can do a lot already in half an hour. Nevertheless, waiting 1 hour + 15 minutes "battery cool off time" is endless for me, let alone for kids ! Don't let that put you off Dino, he's worth the wait ! Keep everyone busy with books and crayons and time will fly by. - whenever Boomer falls over, you sometimes need to push on a button on his back or on the RC to get him back into roaming. - as I mentioned before, the instruction sheet, however clear for basic features, could have been more complete: it could have listed all the "tricks" available and inform on how you can make Boomer do these tricks, which mode he must be in, or if he only does them at random, on his own. I am dying to find "new tricks" on Spin Master's website (as there are for the Zoomer Puppy). For the moment there is no info at all….However I don't think we will turn our back on Dino too soon, there's plenty to try out already. Finally, I was surprised by the delivery prowess : ordered on Wednesday noon on Amazon.co.uk, arrived on Friday morning in Brussels, Belgium ! That definitely deserves a star. At the time of purchase, Boomer was also the cheapest on this website compared to foreign Amazon websites (and additionally lucky me picked the day with a promotion of 45% !). All in all, I am extremely happy that I bought Zoomer the Dino, and I think my daughters (just 8 and 6) will love it as a Xmas present. I will however foresee non-interactive, old-fashioned presents to fill the gap when Dino will be recharging ! I am having a really good time trying it out in secret. I have been considering buying Zoomer Dalmatian, but his non-stop yanking seems too unnerving to me and reviews of him not responding well to vocal orders (which is the major way to interact with him, no RC) discouraged me. However I have not tried him, just watched videos on the web. The Dino seems more fun, more original. You got it, I enthusiastically recommend Boomer the Zoomer Dino ! Please pardon my English mistakes in this review, I am a native French speaker ;-))

This is a fun toy. It is quite life-like in that it roams around chattering. It flashes it's eyes red or green depending on it's mood. It can be used as a remote controlled toy so you can drive it around. It can have tantrums. It can roar. It is quite small and yet does so much. It has an amazing ability to balance on it's 2 wheel feet without falling over. It wriggles it's body from left to right and up and down. It always manages to effortlessly stay balanced. It works on carpet well and even on my rug but it doesn't like going up the edge of my rug because it's wheels get stuck on it. It is very clever. It charges off USB so it doesn't consume loads of batteries. The hand unit does take batteries but they last a long time. This is a quality toy and I would recommend it to my friends.

Great! Amused the whole family (but terrified the dog.) Definitely pet like and seems to grow in intelligence a little bit as you teach it to sit etc. Was a huge hit at Christmas and still played with regularly (not always by the children)! Was on offer when I got it so really good value, around half the price of everywhere else I saw. Not sure I'd pay full whack for it, its not like it has voice recognition or anything but for £50, I thought it was decent value and a toy that will last.

This is already second interactive toy from Zoomer series. We have Zoomie and Dino Boomer. My daughter wanted dino "because it looks scary". When Arrived I was seriously impressed because it managed to keep balance and when enable "crazy" mode it was going around he room making scary noises. Then we took it upstairs where we have very soft thick carpets and unfortunately Dino failed... has serious problems moving on the soft carpet. It comes with remote control. Remote control has 3 buttons and joystick. Remote control can be used to control where dine goes as well as activate Dino mouth... it keeps opening and closing it when pressing button. It general this is nice remote control toy but would not call it interactive. Would buy again I think...

Love this toy . My son has played with this lots and it's a great toy . It has lots of functions but is easy to use . It's good quality with no bits that can come off or get lost and broken . Batter last a long time and is simple to charge . Really like this item and would highly recommend .

Pestered in to buying it v expensive barely played with avoid

I bought this because it had 4.5 stars out of 80+ ratings and after seeing a youtube video. The youtube video said I can program the dino robot. The Amazon description say 'build your friendship' - which indicates that the thing will learn and adapt. 1. You can shake his tail or grab his neck and shake - he gets angry and darts around like mad. 2. You can wave your hand in front of him and get him to sit down. That was it. Apart from running around wondering aimlessly, he doesn't do anything else. I asked other owners what I was missing - expecting a deluge of suggestions. I didnt get a single reply. Kids havent played form more than 5 minutes.

This toy was a great hit with my 7 year old grandson. He plays with it a lot and really likes it. It works for about 20 minutes and then needs to be recharged. It looks good fun and does a lot of moves and has a realistic scary roar! Quite a sturdy toy.