LeapFrog My Pal Scout
Sunday, May 23rd, 2010 at
2:40 pm
LeapFrog My Pal Scout
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5
- Download your child’s name and favorite things to this cuddly customizable puppy, Scout (Internet connection required)
- Listen to any of 5 pre-loaded songs, 4 learning songs and 3 playful melodies
- Press Scout’s paws for lullabies, learning songs and activities with numbers, animals, food and more
- Parents can connect to the online LeapFrog Learning Path for customized learning ideas and insights from LeapFrog
- Select music from an online list of 30 songs (Internet connection required)
Product Description
Leapfrog my pal scoutAmazon.com Review
The LeapFrog My Pal Scout is an interactive companion that helps children learn with an entertaining twist. Recommended for ages six months to three years, the cuddly Pal Scout’s music, lights, and singsong voice appeals to kids whether they are barely crawling or talking in complete sentences. As an added feature, you can personalize the toy to match your child’s preferences through the LeapFrog Connect application s… More >>
Filed under: Learning Toys
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My year old son got this for his birthday and although he loves it and it is a neat toy, it really could have been technically executed a little better. I am hoping they send out updates via the USB cord to make his speech a little bit smoother and that they enhance the variety of “elevator” music available
The USB cable that comes with Scout is incredibly short and I would recommend a second mini USB cable if you do not already have one for another computer peripheral. The customization process was straight forward and we had him done quickly. My only complaint is that you have to create a user account and the Internet is required but that’s a minor compliant since Scout ships able to be interactive without being customized. Additionally, Scout has volume control on his battery box and is not obnoxiously loud even on his highest volume
Scout is very, very soft and even with the battery box in his trunk, the puppy’s body is soft and cuddly. My son spends a lot of his play time with Scout hugging him and petting him.
Scout has three main features – Play games, Sing Songs, and Night Songs (the fourth paw is on and off):
- The Play Games paw just chatters with your child. Asking him what his favorite color, animal and food is – Scout and Baby have the same ones after you program them. Scout also makes animal noises, talks about feelings “I feel happy, show me your biggest smile!” and engages your child in direct dialog.
- The songs Scout sings are cute and the choices you make when customizing show up in the songs he sings. Poor technical integration is shown when any of the customized items appear in the songs – Scout sounds like he has a speech problem because the tamper and inflection of the customized objects does not match the song being sung. Also, the only music you can customize in this section is elevator music. I would like to see songs with words, more known children’s songs (very surprised not to see “Baby Beluga”) or the ability to add your own music to Scout.
- The Night Songs paw is pretty cool. You click it once and it does 2 mins of the “night” music you choose when customizing continuously. Press it again, you get 5; once more and you get 10. Although our guy doesn’t have problems sleeping, it might be a nice touch if your little one has some problems sleeping or being alone in the quiet.
All in all, our only real concern is that Scout might be the first toy he has worthy of being “that” toy he can’t live without! We have a competitors talking puppy that drives us up the wall (“TUMMY!”).
If you are looking for a chatty puppy – Get Scout or Violet.
Rating: 4 / 5
I agree with other reviewers, not much to complain about for a customizable toy for under $20.00.
PROS:
1) One of the songs Scout sings is really super cute. It’s the one that incorporates your child’s favorites. When I sing along with Scout my son giggles, it’s so darn adorable.
2) I have a glowworm that plays nighttime music for like 15 seconds, not long enough. Scout plays up to 10 minutes – GREAT FEATURE!
3) Scout is very soft and huggable.
4) When my son recognizes his name I’m sure he’ll appreciate it more, but for now, it’s just, well, cool to hear his name come from a toy. Gotta love technology.
CONS:
1) You have to choose a favorite animal, color and food during set up. He’s six months old – I don’t think he has favorites at this point, and if he did, how am I supposed to know what they are?….so I just put in any old thing for now. When I want to change them, I have to plug Scout in and download new options. It should just have all the colors and foods and animals programmed in instead of “What’s your favorite?”.
2) There is a pretty bad inflection at the end of my son’s name (Christian). I have not tried putting other names in there to see what they sound like, but his sounds a little weird.
3) “Let’s sing a song about you”. Hmm, well, all it does is spell his name with a funky beat behind it. He seems to like it though.
Overall my son seems to like Scout a lot. When he hears his voice he immediately looks for him and smiles when he finds him. The things I don’t like about it really don’t matter because the toy is not for me, it’s for my son and he likes it just fine. For the price, a definite buy.
Rating: 4 / 5
I have a three year old son who just loves this puppy. We programed the puppy and my son lights up every time he hears his name. He even answers the puppy when he talks. Puppy (that is what my son calls him) will ask Brenden if he wants to play and my son says “yes”, when puppy says Hi Brenden my son will say “hi”. Just love it, puppy goes every where with him. Since my son has a not very popular name, this toy is awesome in saying his name. Even though the toy is rated for age 6 months to 36 months, my son is almmost 39 months old and loves this toy. Great Price too!
The usb cord is short but not a problem with plugging into the laptop. Since it is only used to program the puppy, it’s not a big problem.
I would like to hear more songs with words rather then just a beat. The do spell out the child’s name in a song and would be better if they repeated the name at the end of it, but my son still loves it. The puppy says snuggle a lot and would be better if the puppy would say hug instead. My three year old didn’t fully understand the snuggling part, but he is catching on quickly.
I am going to buy a few more for my younger nephews, since it is such a big hit with my son and both of my nephews have uncommon names too! So this will be a great christmas gift. LeapFrog My Pal Scout
Rating: 5 / 5
This review is for; LeapFrog My Pal Scout
I bought Scout for my young son with the interesting fact that it can be customized with my son’s name via an internet-accessed computer. I was satisfied that my son’s name was included in the very large selection of names available (some with alternate pronunciations) from the software downloaded in the Leap Frog website. Nicknames can also be chosen if you prefer. From the downloaded-software you must also select your child’s favorite food, animal & color. Favorite selections that are incorporated later in Scout’s conversational dialogue & songs sung.
Scout has three primary functions on each of his three paws and the fourth paw has a power-off function (colored red) although Scout powers off on his own on sleep mode during inactivity. All dialogue is pre-recorded from a young boy’s voice & his collar lights up intermittingly.
The fun paw with the balloons is a series of dialogue interaction with your child such as guessing games or simple dialogue like “Hi Darren” (my son’s name), “Do you want to play Darren?” or “I love you Darren”.
The paw with the green musical notes are daytime, fun songs. If Scout is personalized with your child’s name, some of the songs will incorporate your child’s name. Some of the songs have lyrics and some are only instrumental. I personally like the songs with lyrics and I wish there were more of them. From the downloaded software you have up to 30 songs to choose from, but you can only add 5 at a time and all of the songs you download are instrumental (no lyrics).
The paw with the blue night-time symbol are collection of night time songs. Like the other musical paw you can download up to 30 songs to choose from, but you can only download 5 at a time. Like the daytime songs, all the night-time songs you download are instrumental (no lyrics). Press the night-time paw once & you get two minutes of music. Press it twice and the music lasts five minutes long. Press it three times and the music lasts ten minutes long. Nice!
Overall, Scout has a very, soft, outer body for the child to carry or hug. If you don’t have access to a computer, Scout is still enjoyable with the already programmed phrases & songs already included, but far more potential is reached if you can personalize it with an internet-accessed computer. The included USB cable is very short as many others have complained about, but was long enough for my laptop. I have longer USB cables from other electronic devices I have around the house that will also work with this toy in case I need longer ones.
My only concern is what is going to happen when my young son ever figures out how to open the Velcro-back that conceals the plastic box housing the electronics and where your install the three AA batteries via screws? I’ll just worry about that later, but for now it is a real pleasure for him to enjoy! I highly recommend this one, especially for the very, low price!
PRODUCT RECALL FOR EARLIER MODELS!!! Around May & June of 2009 a limited number of Scout toys were sold with printed decals on the paws instead of embroided symbols. The decals were later discovered to be removable and presented a choking hazard to young children, so if you have purchased either Leapfrog’s Scout or Violet (the purple version featuring a young girl’s voice) with the decals on the paws, please return it to the store you bought it from or it can be exchanged directly with Leap Frog for the corrected, embroided paws. I posted pictures of the paws above.
Rating: 5 / 5
Pros:
1. My 3 month old is drawn to the flashing light on the dog collar that flashes as Scout speaks or sings.
2. The voice is easy on the ears
3. Easy to haul around, great entertainment in the car!
Cons:
1. Very few songs to select from online
2. Only the leapfrog created songs have lyrics. All other songs just contain the melody. Melodies include twinkle twinkle little star, ABC, Muffin Man
Rating: 4 / 5