Customer reviews from shop.spinmaster.com
Spin Master - Meccano M.A.X. Robotic Interactive Toy - Multi
Average customer rating
4.5
(42 Reviews)
Rating breakdown 42 reviews
5 Stars
23
4 Stars
15
3 Stars
4
2 Stars
0
1 Star
0
98%of customers recommend this product.
(
41 out of
42)
Customer Reviews for Spin Master - Meccano M.A.X. Robotic Interactive Toy - Multi
Customer Rating
4
A fun learning tool!
on October 16, 2017
Posted by: Electiholstein
from Sonora, CA
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] First off, the Build. When I opened the box, I found what seemed to be hundreds of parts, nuts, and bolts. I was a bit overwhelmed, but the actual build went relatively well. Despite a couple of errors in the instructions (main head piece placement was off center in the picture for about 3 steps) the entire build took a little over an hour, and it was fun doing it. Keep in mind that I had old school, cut your fingers on sharp metal kits when I was a kid. This guy is far from that.
Now for the interaction. It takes a little practice, both with you, the user and MAX. For some reason, he responds to "Hey MAX" to me almost 100% of the time, but only about 75% of the time with my 12 year old son. I think that he was just excited and speaking too fast though. At first MAX is like an infant. He doesn't know much, and has to learn new tricks. We did get him to level up to level 3 in no time though. You can show him things through his IR sensor in front. (Just under his name on his belly) We showed him the remote and he responded with Ooooo! What is that? and then you tell him what it is. It's unclear if he will recognize it later or not, but I'm hopeful that he will. He also tells jokes and fun facts on command. The last thing that we tried was a feature where you can push him along the floor in a pattern, and move his arm and grip. Then you pace him back at the start, and he copies the movements. Although it wasn't completely accurate, it was very close and we had fun doing it.
All in all MAX is very sturdy, and the drive motors are powerful and can run on carpet. It has a rechargeable battery pack, and you can even create a face on your phone through the app and replace his green dot matrix face. The app also allows you to control him so you can drive him around and chase the dog or whatever.
The only real negative is the sometimes clunky response to voice commands and the fact that his left arm is just for looks. You can move it and open and close his hand, but it's all manual. While his right hand grips with motors, you have to move his arm manually as well. I know that we'll be playing with and teaching MAX for some time without boredom.
Now for the interaction. It takes a little practice, both with you, the user and MAX. For some reason, he responds to "Hey MAX" to me almost 100% of the time, but only about 75% of the time with my 12 year old son. I think that he was just excited and speaking too fast though. At first MAX is like an infant. He doesn't know much, and has to learn new tricks. We did get him to level up to level 3 in no time though. You can show him things through his IR sensor in front. (Just under his name on his belly) We showed him the remote and he responded with Ooooo! What is that? and then you tell him what it is. It's unclear if he will recognize it later or not, but I'm hopeful that he will. He also tells jokes and fun facts on command. The last thing that we tried was a feature where you can push him along the floor in a pattern, and move his arm and grip. Then you pace him back at the start, and he copies the movements. Although it wasn't completely accurate, it was very close and we had fun doing it.
All in all MAX is very sturdy, and the drive motors are powerful and can run on carpet. It has a rechargeable battery pack, and you can even create a face on your phone through the app and replace his green dot matrix face. The app also allows you to control him so you can drive him around and chase the dog or whatever.
The only real negative is the sometimes clunky response to voice commands and the fact that his left arm is just for looks. You can move it and open and close his hand, but it's all manual. While his right hand grips with motors, you have to move his arm manually as well. I know that we'll be playing with and teaching MAX for some time without boredom.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting shop.spinmaster.com
Customer Rating
5
Non stop fun!
on October 17, 2017
Posted by: Boomonk
from Melville, NY
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] My kids are completely hooked and are now dying to try another model! It keeps them constantly thinking and trying to be creative with all the different challenges is that the robot does it addition it has built a new game modes and you can customize it which has its own surprising features!!
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting shop.spinmaster.com
Customer Rating
3
Such great potential...
on October 17, 2017
Posted by: mlggirl
from Webster, NY
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I gave the MAX Meccano robot to my youngest son who is turning 13 because he is really interested in engineering and building things (like LEGO) and I thought this would be perfect for him!
He had it built in a few hours and told me he had a lot of fun wiring the robot and putting all of the pieces together. I think it was a good skill level for him- not too much of a challenge but not too easy.
Once he actually started playing with the robot, however, is when things started to get disappointing. From what I understand, the robot is supposed to be a "learning" robot and respond to voice commands but my son cannot get the robot to do a thing based on his voice. It just sits there and doesn't even register that it has been given a comand. The screen and mini controller work fine but the rest does not. It's possible he did something wrong while building it but I doubt that was the case.
Except for the lack of voice comand, I think this product was a lot of fun for my son to build and with a few improvements to voice comand this would be a great little robot for him to play with and as a mom, I apreciate him being interested in something that isn't a video game!
He had it built in a few hours and told me he had a lot of fun wiring the robot and putting all of the pieces together. I think it was a good skill level for him- not too much of a challenge but not too easy.
Once he actually started playing with the robot, however, is when things started to get disappointing. From what I understand, the robot is supposed to be a "learning" robot and respond to voice commands but my son cannot get the robot to do a thing based on his voice. It just sits there and doesn't even register that it has been given a comand. The screen and mini controller work fine but the rest does not. It's possible he did something wrong while building it but I doubt that was the case.
Except for the lack of voice comand, I think this product was a lot of fun for my son to build and with a few improvements to voice comand this would be a great little robot for him to play with and as a mom, I apreciate him being interested in something that isn't a video game!
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting shop.spinmaster.com
Customer Rating
5
Meccano MAX Interactive Robot
on October 17, 2017
Posted by: mantheymommy
from Madison, AL
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] This robot is an excellent toy for kids ages 10-12. It is very time consuming assembling the robot but can be accomplished by a child this age following the instructions with little to no help. We loved playing with this once it was set up. It is really cool how it can move around, pick up things. Kids can really be proud of building this themselves.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting shop.spinmaster.com
Customer Rating
4
Engaging, but lasting?
on October 20, 2017
Posted by: jthornton94
from Grovetown, GA
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I was initially impressed at the amount of attention my son paid to this toy. He eagerly sat down to undertake the construction portion. At 12, I assumed he could complete this task on his own. For the most part, he did, but by the end it was apparent he had made some mistakes with the right size of the screws and we had to improvise. Better labeling of the items may assist in preventing this issue. Other than that, he was content to construct the robot, primarily in one sitting. Once complete though, I noticed some issues. Initially programming the robot took some patience. Some of the steps were unclear, even with adult assistance. Once programming was complete, accessing all the capabilities was confusing. The book listed all of these neat activities he can do, but only as you "earn" them. How you earn them was the most confusing for my son. He has successfully used some of the features, such as fun facts and jokes, but he has already grown tired of that. Without some clearer guidance on how to train the robot, I can see his interest wearing off quickly. Overall, as a parent, I think the concept is great. The building portion was very engaging and mostly successful. A younger child would need more help though. Once built, I am not sure how long before the novelty epwears off, unless we can figure out how to teach him new skills. If all the skills were accessible, I think my son would be more engaged.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting shop.spinmaster.com
Customer Rating
5
MAX is a hit!!
on October 20, 2017
Posted by: CHAdams123
from Parker, CO
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] Although MAX was a bit difficult to put together, he is by far one of the best interactive toys we have in our home!!! My 10 year old son struggled to assemble some of the smaller pieces, requiring assistance from parents, but ultimately got it done! He loves the jokes and dance parties, and really enjoys showing MAX new objects in the house! There is a bit of a learning curve on the user end, meaning the "cues" don't always work, but in the end, we find it to be a great, fun toy!
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting shop.spinmaster.com
Customer Rating
5
MAX... mium Fun!
on October 23, 2017
Posted by: rdarndt
from Newport, MI
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] This was a great experience and fun for my 11 year old son to build. He was able to complete process in three, one hours sessions. There were over three hundred pieces, so after sorting everything out, he was ready to build. The direction are easy to follow and the only tools you need are included. Only ran into one problem were a hole wasn't cast all the way through on one piece, but easy to drill out to fix. Might want to help your child with the sticker applications, putting them on the tires were a little tricky.
Now my son is going through all the interactive steps with M.A.X. M.A.X. responses to voice commands and learns from interactions with the child. The more he learns, the more he can do. Power is supplied by a rechargeable battery pack. This is a great product if your kids like to do S.T.E.M. based projects. My son is using M.A.X. for his 5th grade class S.T.E.M. project.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting shop.spinmaster.com
Customer Rating
4
Interactive, Educational & FUN STEM Toy
on October 23, 2017
Posted by: darcys
from Chicago, IL
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] The Meccano M.A.X. robot is a great way for kids to get hands on experience with engineering and robotics. My kids, an 11-year old and a 9 year-old enjoyed the process of seeing all the parts and putting everything together to make an actual interactive robot. It is definitely more geared toward 10+ years as indicated. My 9-year old was often times too frustrated with the build to stick with it. And while some 10 year olds may be able to complete the project on their own, my kids definitely needed some adult intervention to comprehend the directions and assemble difficult parts. Once the build was complete, we were all really surprised when we began to interact with M.A.X. and he responded (with wit and charm nonetheless!). It's one thing to build a robot from parts... it's a whole different level when you are able to interact with it and teach it about you. My kids definitely felt a huge sense of accomplishment upon completion of the build and were over-the-top excited when they were able to "talk to" M.A.X. There are definitely some pros and cons of the Meccano M.A.X. though.
The Build: 3.5 Hours
There are a lot of pieces to this project - I believe close to 350 parts come with the kit! The parts come in number labeled bags, but unfortunately the numbering did not coincide with the order of building and didn’t seem to have much reasoning for why some parts were packaged with others. There are also a lot of different screw sizes that are all mixed together. After starting the build, the kids realized they needed to sort the pieces and keep them all separate to ensure they were using the right ones. We found this out the hard way as we thought we were using all the same size screw (they were all in one baggie) but realized mid-way through the build that in some steps, it was a slightly different size screw. We were able to make the swap by undoing a few previous steps though. The directions are ok. You really need to study some of the pictures to understand what the directions are conveying for some steps though. The pictures definitely help and the kids enjoyed knowing their progress. Once they figured out how to properly use the tools included, building got a little easier about half-way through. There were some instances where they built it the wrong way or attached a screw to the wrong hole on a part - each time it became clear there was a mistake fairly quickly afterwards, so they would have to undo a few steps to make the correction and then rebuild. It wasn’t a huge deal, but it did add extra time and a bit of frustration to the building process. Overall, the building process took about 3.5 hours.
There are a lot of pieces to this project - I believe close to 350 parts come with the kit! The parts come in number labeled bags, but unfortunately the numbering did not coincide with the order of building and didn’t seem to have much reasoning for why some parts were packaged with others. There are also a lot of different screw sizes that are all mixed together. After starting the build, the kids realized they needed to sort the pieces and keep them all separate to ensure they were using the right ones. We found this out the hard way as we thought we were using all the same size screw (they were all in one baggie) but realized mid-way through the build that in some steps, it was a slightly different size screw. We were able to make the swap by undoing a few previous steps though. The directions are ok. You really need to study some of the pictures to understand what the directions are conveying for some steps though. The pictures definitely help and the kids enjoyed knowing their progress. Once they figured out how to properly use the tools included, building got a little easier about half-way through. There were some instances where they built it the wrong way or attached a screw to the wrong hole on a part - each time it became clear there was a mistake fairly quickly afterwards, so they would have to undo a few steps to make the correction and then rebuild. It wasn’t a huge deal, but it did add extra time and a bit of frustration to the building process. Overall, the building process took about 3.5 hours.
Turning on M.A.X. - The Moment of Truth
Once the robot was built, came the moment of truth - turning it on to see what happens! We were all a little excited and nervous! The robot lit up and then indicated to us that 2 of the connections were not correct. So, we had to review all the connections again to determine where the mistake was. It took a bit to figure this out, but eventually an adult was able to determine which connections were to go into which ports. When the kids turned the robot on again, we got no error messages… but then nothing happened! It was a bit of a disappointment. After reviewing the instructions again, we realized we needed to download the latest software for the robot. Finding the software to download was not easy. The link included in the instructions did not direct you to a software download page. After several searches, we finally were able to find the software to download. Upon installation of the latest software and then a charge of the battery - we were finally ready to see what M.A.X. was all about.
Once the robot was built, came the moment of truth - turning it on to see what happens! We were all a little excited and nervous! The robot lit up and then indicated to us that 2 of the connections were not correct. So, we had to review all the connections again to determine where the mistake was. It took a bit to figure this out, but eventually an adult was able to determine which connections were to go into which ports. When the kids turned the robot on again, we got no error messages… but then nothing happened! It was a bit of a disappointment. After reviewing the instructions again, we realized we needed to download the latest software for the robot. Finding the software to download was not easy. The link included in the instructions did not direct you to a software download page. After several searches, we finally were able to find the software to download. Upon installation of the latest software and then a charge of the battery - we were finally ready to see what M.A.X. was all about.
Interacting with M.A.X. - He’s got a personality!
Once we were ready to go and turned on the robot, my kids said “Hello” - and the robot responded indicating that it couldn’t quite catch the response (or something to that nature). We tried again with just one of the kids talking directly in front of the robot and that seemed to be the trick. M.A.X. then responded and proceeded to go through a series of questions to test out the functionality and ensure everything was correct from a hardware perspective. During the questioning, sometimes M.A.X. was not able to process what my daughter was saying and would just move on. Of all the commands that M.A.X. is supposed to respond to, the only one the kids could get to work was the “Tell me a Joke” command. When left on, sometimes M.A.X. blurts out random things (“I’ve been having so much fun hanging out with you”) or makes small movements of its head and arms. If you move the robots head manually, it will respond by saying things like “Take it easy”. It isn’t obviously clear what all the buttons on the front panel do - so the kids just kept pressing them to see what happened. There were some additional things they could program utilizing the panel buttons. There is also a companion app that allows you to control M.A.X. remotely as well as use your phone to change the face.
Once we were ready to go and turned on the robot, my kids said “Hello” - and the robot responded indicating that it couldn’t quite catch the response (or something to that nature). We tried again with just one of the kids talking directly in front of the robot and that seemed to be the trick. M.A.X. then responded and proceeded to go through a series of questions to test out the functionality and ensure everything was correct from a hardware perspective. During the questioning, sometimes M.A.X. was not able to process what my daughter was saying and would just move on. Of all the commands that M.A.X. is supposed to respond to, the only one the kids could get to work was the “Tell me a Joke” command. When left on, sometimes M.A.X. blurts out random things (“I’ve been having so much fun hanging out with you”) or makes small movements of its head and arms. If you move the robots head manually, it will respond by saying things like “Take it easy”. It isn’t obviously clear what all the buttons on the front panel do - so the kids just kept pressing them to see what happened. There were some additional things they could program utilizing the panel buttons. There is also a companion app that allows you to control M.A.X. remotely as well as use your phone to change the face.
Overall Rating: 4 Stars
It’s definitely a toy that the kids want to keep playing with to see what else M.A.X. can learn and do. As noted, the directions weren’t the easiest to follow and it takes a bit of patience and about 3.5 hours to build. It’s not exactly clear in the directions how to interact with the robot to get it to learn more about you. It indicates that the more you play with it, the more interactive it will be… but it doesn’t explain how to do this. Some of the interaction is very much just testing things out to see what the robot responds to. We could not get the majority of commands to work at the get-go, but hopefully over time will be able to figure those out as well. Clearer instructions with more detail on how to interact with the robot would push this interactive toy to a 5 star rating. It’s a great educational and fun toy for immersing your kids in STEM and getting them to appreciate how to build, create and interact with something really cool from a bunch of parts. M.A.X. is perfect for the curious kid, the builder, the engineer, the technology enthusiast and really for kids who just want to explore and have fun.
It’s definitely a toy that the kids want to keep playing with to see what else M.A.X. can learn and do. As noted, the directions weren’t the easiest to follow and it takes a bit of patience and about 3.5 hours to build. It’s not exactly clear in the directions how to interact with the robot to get it to learn more about you. It indicates that the more you play with it, the more interactive it will be… but it doesn’t explain how to do this. Some of the interaction is very much just testing things out to see what the robot responds to. We could not get the majority of commands to work at the get-go, but hopefully over time will be able to figure those out as well. Clearer instructions with more detail on how to interact with the robot would push this interactive toy to a 5 star rating. It’s a great educational and fun toy for immersing your kids in STEM and getting them to appreciate how to build, create and interact with something really cool from a bunch of parts. M.A.X. is perfect for the curious kid, the builder, the engineer, the technology enthusiast and really for kids who just want to explore and have fun.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting shop.spinmaster.com