We picked this up for my kiddo when she got to the point of being able to read well. Before we had the basic programming mouse and she loved it. When she saw this it's all she wanted. So after she learned to read well (for a 6 year old) we picked this up as a reward. Let's start by saying, I love this thing. Seriously a really fun way to learn the concept of programming and logic. But my kid loves it too. I still help her out some with it, but overall she can do a lot with this. I do enjoy the 2 major ways to use this, a guided 'learning' path and a sandbox 'free-for-all' path. My daughter loves the guided path as it gives a small story and questline to follow. This robot can do a lot, way more then what I thought it could/would do. The possibilities are endless with this thing. We're looking at some attachments for this eventually. Overall very happy and HIGHLY recommend this to anyone with a child who's mechanically/scientifically/mathematically inclined. Dash will provide countless hours of entertainment for them.
Bought one for my 10 year old daughter for Christmas and my 8 year old son bought himself one several months later with his birthday money. The robots themselves are made from high quality parts and are very sturdy. The updates/setup take a while, so I'd recommend getting that all done a day or two before if you are planning to give Dash as a gift.
I chose Dash and Dot for my kids after reviewing 10-15 different kinds of robots and am very pleased with my decision. The team is doing a lot to keep the robots engaging including Scroll Quest missions, Dash and Dot Tv, and the robotics competition. My kids have had a few other robots before but Dash and Dot have definitely provided the most hours of play. I recommend getting started with Scroll Quest in the app. There is also an app which has an interface very similar to code.org which your child may have used before at school.
My kids even created a hide-and-seek game where they strap one phone to Dash's head and Facetime another phone that the seeker has. The seeker must stay in one place and drive Dash around to find the hider.
Love this little guy. Explored the house right out of the box. Dash needed to cross a threshold into another room during his exploration - it took him 1/2 hour to figure it out, he just wouldn't give up, then when he finally got over it, he laughed and said "wooh" and "look at that" while he continued his exploration in the next room. Absolutely fun to watch and interact with , will be more fun when programming begins. Giving to a 7 year old with autism for Christmas. Can learn at own pace and stop at any level. I Like that you have to go through each level before being able to proceed to next. The interaction is expected to help with some of the challenges encountered in autism. Very easy drag and drop interface for making chain code as small or long as desired. Easy to understand and execute codes. The sky's the limit.
This is SO FUN!!
I bought it for my 4 year old nephew who I think is super smart (but I'm not biased or anything, ha). It was a bit advanced for him to do the formula-type stuff, but I had a lot of fun! Ha! He also loved doing the one-off tricks with him, like making him move or having him dance.
Surprisingly he still really loves this robot - it could be because of the way I've framed it, but I also think that as he gets older he'll love it even more.
My 5-year old daughter and my 11-year old son both enjoy Dash (and my husband and I do, too). There are many different apps you can use to control Dash in different ways. It's a wonderful introduction to robotics/programming. Worth every penny.