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The Sphero RVR all-terrain tank robot is marked down to $145 at Amazon
A lot cheaper and more educational than buying an actual offroader
If you're bored at home right now, Sphero may just have the answer. The robotics company is responsible for all sorts of fun distractions; from R2-D2 to Lightning McQueen, there's a robo toy for folks of all persuasions. And right now, its all-terrain tank robot vehicle, the Sphero RVR, is on sale at Amazon.This robot may be diminutive in size, but it's still an all-terrain programmable tank-style vehicle that comes complete with color sensor, light sensor, accelerometer, and gyroscope. A powerful motor, all-terrain treads and high torque make it perfect for exploring the backyard, and there's a protective roll cage for when your offroading gets extra offroad. The removable and rechargeable battery delivers plenty of juice to power RVR and any projects added to it.
Sphero first burst onto the scene in 2011 with an adorable spherical robot that could be controlled with a smartphone. Since then, the company has released all kinds of unique products based on this concept, like these Star Wars robots, a Lightning McQueen RC car, and the Bolt. Right now, you can snag one of Sphero's more ambitious products, the Sphero RVR, for 2.34 (.65 off) at Amazon.Unlike Sphero's original robotic orb, the RVR features a tank-like design with four wheels, all-terrain treads, and a high-torque engine. It also features a swathe of internal sensors, including an accelerometer, gyroscope, IR, color sensor, and light sensor. On top sits a removable roll-cage to prevent unwanted flips, while the rechargeable battery promises plenty of juice for excursions.
If you have an inquisitive and curious-minded kid who spends more time indoors than out, then gifting a fun yet educational robotic toy like the Sphero BOLT will be a good way to get his or her brain juices flowing. Being a STEM toy, it's designed to prepare kids for a successful career later in life by developing their science, technology, engineering, and math skills. This smart toy usually sells for $150 but Amazon has it for $105 ($45 off) right now.When we reviewed the Sphero BOLT last year, we liked it for its neat and durable design, useful sensors, easy-to-use Sphero Edu mobile app, and good battery life. In addition to teaching users about coding with a variety of scripting tools, the BOLT can also be driven around like an RC car using the Sphero Play mobile app.
Black Friday has come and gone, but we're not done with pre-holiday deals by a long shot. Cyber Monday is upon us, and the deals refuse to quit. A whole bunch of what we're seeing today is an extension of sales that have been running since last week, but there's plenty of new stuff, too. Here, for your convenience, we've rounded up all the best deals we've spotted.We always try to give you a sense of how good a deal really is by avoiding comparisons to MSRP where they're not useful; if an item's MSRP is $300 but it usually sells for $250, a sale price of $200 is $50 off, not $100. This list is no different: sales are compared to street prices wherever possible, and we explicitly label comparisons to MSRP when we can't.
Toy robot maker Sphero hasn't had the best time of late, with slow sales forcing job cuts this time last year and, more recently, an end to production of some of its licensed products. There must be high hopes for its latest product, then, which is a new type of musical instrument for that responds to different colors.
Toy robot manufacturer Sphero has stopped making its Disney and Marvel licensed products after deciding that the return on the investment isn't strong enough. Products currently on shelves will continue to be sold and supported, but once they're gone, that's it.
As the name might suggest, Sphero's claim to fame is its sphere-shaped toy robots. These include the original Sphero, Sphero 2.0, Sphero Mini, BB-8, and BB-9E. The company has also been marketing some of its products towards education as STEM learning tools, particularly with the SPRK+.Sphero's latest product is another educational robot - the Bolt. It's a minor upgrade from the existing SPRK+, with a configurable LED matrix display, infrared sensors for communicating with other robots, and "more than two hours of continuous play."I think the Sphero Bolt is a well-designed product, but I'm not sure there's enough value to justify the $150 price tag, especially when it's only an iterative improvement over the company's existing robots.
Sphero is known for creating both educational and recreational robots in a variety of different forms. The original Sphero was a robotic ball, and the company has since released movie tie-ins and numerous upgrades. Bolt is something of a modern-day reimagining of the company's very first product.
The full force of summer has landed and it is hot out — maybe too hot. Too hot to play, too hot to think, and certainly too hot for paying full price on your favorite tech hardware and accessories. This past week we've seen some tempting deals cross our path, and while a few have already come and gone, we're taking the opportunity this weekend to remind you about some of our favorite offers that just happen to still be available.
Sphero is known for creating clever, oddball electronic toys, and this Spider-Man one is no different. Unfortunately for Sphero, these toys tend to be discounted quite severely after a few months on the market; for instance, the $300 Ultimate Lightning McQueen can now be had for 9 on Amazon. In a similar manner, this Spider-Man toy has dropped from 9.99 to just .99 at Best Buy.[EMBED_YT]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YicJOhRzg_Q[/EMBED_YT]Sphero's Spider-Man features speech recognition, animated LCD eyes, "Spider-Sense" motion detection via an IR sensor, the ability to create a story, and more. Its charging base, which is shaped like a web, allows it to get over two hours of play on a full charge, and its Wi-Fi connection allows it to receive firmware updates. It's a lot of tech for such a small toy.Chances are that it didn't sell too well at its $149.99 MSRP because it just doesn't look that fancy, but .99 is sure to entice a lot more people. Hit the source link below to grab one from Best Buy. Slickdeals says the discount is over, but it's still available via both shipping and in-store pickup for me.[EMBED_APP]https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sphero.spiderman[/EMBED_APP]Source: Best BuyVia: Slickdeals
Interactive toy-maker Sphero appeared to all the world as though it was in fine shape as the holiday season approached last year. Thanks to licensing deals with Disney and Marvel spawning a range of remote control Star Wars robots and an app-enabled Spider-Man toy, the company's product portfolio burgeoned in 2017. The more affordable Sphero Mini came out towards the end of the year but apparently wasn't enough to ensure decent holiday sales numbers. As a result, staff cuts have been made and Sphero will release products at a slower rate in 2018.
About half a year ago, we reviewed Sphero's Ultimate Lightning McQueen RC car. We walked away unimpressed due to its subpar controls and monstrous $300 price tag, despite its realism and cool factor. Now it's been discounted to a much more reasonable $148.99, just a bit over 50% off its MSRP, on Amazon.Ultimate Lightning McQueen is supposed to be a realistic scale version of the Cars movies' Lightning McQueen. There are a ton of motors, touch sensors, lights, and a speaker on board, all so that McQueen can talk and move just like the real thing. The actions are realistic, as are the catchphrases McQueen (or, more accurately, Owen Wilson) speaks. We experienced connectivity issues and were not fans of the unintuitive touch controls, but there are quite a few positive reviews on Amazon from very satisfied owners.The car's MSRP of $299.99 was obviously far too high, and the current price of $148.99 makes a lot more sense. Prime shipping is free. Hit the source link below to grab a talking and moving Lightning McQueen of your own.Source: Amazon
Sphero has made quite a few remote-controlled toys, most recently miniature versions of the R2-D2 and BB-9E Star Wars droids. About a week ago, the company accidentally published the app for 'Sphero Mini,' which was taken down shortly after. Now the toy is official, and like the BB-8 and BB-9E products, it's a sphere-shaped robot controlled with a phone or tablet.
Even if you're not that familiar with the original Sphero remote control ball, you've probably seen the more recently released Star Wars tie-ins, such as R2-D2 and BB-8, or Lightning McQueen of Cars fame. The impressive toys have garnered much praise from reviewers, the robotic balls especially. A few days ago, a Play Store entry for a new app briefly went live before being taken down again, which leads us to believe a Sphero Mini is about to be released.
Sphero's BB-8 remote control toy was a massive hit when it was released in 2015, partially because it was a great product, but also because the hype machine for The Force Awakens was at full speed. Now that another main series Star Wars film is on the way, it only makes sense that Disney would again partner with Sphero. Except this time, there are two of them.
The original Cars movie came out in March 2006. That may not seem like all that long ago to some of you, but keep this in mind: it wasn't until September 2008 that the first-ever Android phone, the HTC Dream, made its consumer debut. Back in '06, I was just a kid who was much more interested in toy cars than technology. You can imagine, then, how excited I was to see a Pixar movie with animated talking cars.It's been eleven years since then, and I now spend my time on actual cars far more than little models of them. But with Cars 3's recent release, Sphero unveiled a realistic, technology-packed 'Ultimate Lightning McQueen' RC car. Given my love for both cars and technology, I knew I had to have a look. Unfortunately, despite all of its nice little touches, it didn't live up to my expectations, especially given its monstrous $300 price tag.
Sphero got itself recognized for making neat little toys that roll around. However, its next product doesn't move. It's an app-enabled Spider-Man toy with LCD eyes, speech recognition, and games in the companion app. We don't have all the details on this device yet, but retailer John Lewis accidentally pushed the product page live too soon, and Sphero published its app. That's good enough for a basic overview.
Sphero is perhaps best-known for creating the Sphero ball and the Ollie, but the company's latest product is just a bit more complex. Of course, RC cars are nothing new, but this new Lightning McQueen model packs a ton of technology into a compact, friendly-looking package. In fact, there's so much tech inside that the $299.99 price tag kind of makes sense.[EMBED_YT]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmCvRVt8ROo[/EMBED_YT]The app-controlled car, which is officially dubbed 'Ultimate Lightning McQueen,' was developed in cooperation with Pixar. Measuring in at around three inches tall, ten inches long, and five inches wide, it leans, moves, and talks just as the movie character does, with mouth and eye movements being performed by a motor and an LCD, respectively. It's controlled by a joystick in the app, reacts to touches, and can do things like burnouts and donuts. It's all pretty impressive.
What's better than a remote control BB-8 toy, you ask? A remote control BB-8 toy on sale. Perhaps a day early for May the 4th (as in "May the Force be with you"), Sphero has discounted the popular toy to just $122 on Amazon.If you're not familiar with it, the droid is primarily designed to be controlled with the provided iOS and Android applications. It can move up to 30m away from the controller, and should last for about 60 minutes on a single charge.The bundle on sale includes the 'Force Band,' which allows you to control BB-8 with hand gestures. You can find it on Amazon at the link below.
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- If you don't mind getting a certified refurbished product, you can grab the Sphero BB-8 for .99 on Woot today. An optional bundle with the Force Band (the latter should be new, not refurbished) is also available for $119.99. The BB-8 is going for $122 new on Amazon and the bundle is $177.5 as of the time of writing. There are 19 hours left on the Woot deal.
I don't have kids, I've never seen Star Wars (I keep saying I'll watch them to rectify my nerd cred score, but two full-time jobs, a new apartment, and wedding preparations sorta leave me with no free time), and yet I still want this Sphero Star Wars BB-8 robot. I mean it's cute, it's a robot, it does things, and it does them with Android. What's not to like? Oh, the price...At an MSRP of $150, this was one rather expensive toy. At its average price of $120 over the past months, it was still above the impulse-buy threshold. As a matter of fact, the lowest price we'd previously seen it at was $100 around Black Friday. But it's been free-falling over the last days, as evidenced by the Camel Camel Camel graph below, and has now hit an all-time low: $88.81.