GeoSafari Jr. Talking Microscope

We bought two of these for Christmas for our children so they could each have their own.One Microscope worked great. The slides were really cool and it did a good job of explaining what was on the slide and even asked questions to see if your kids are paying attention.The 2nd microscope was defective and didn’t read the slides correctly. For example it would tell the kids that a slide of a tooth was a honey bee and would then proceed to talk about honeybees while they were looking at a human tooth. The same slide would read correctly in the first microscope so we knew it wasn’t the slides. So we returned one of them. I would have given it 5 stars anyways... because the 1st microscope was awesome and no product is ever 100 percent all the time. We can expect a replacement every now and then and that’s ok to me. I am just letting everyone know one was defective Incase you see a lot of reviews saying the same thing... then you know it’s a common problem and maybe but such a great toy.The reason I personally think it’s worth 3 stars instead of 5 at this point, is because this awesome Microscope becomes a nightmare if you have 2 or more kids. It is impossible for them to both sit at the table together and each have their own microscope (which I wanted them to do so they wouldn’t loose any slides or break the microscope). It’s impossible because you can’t mute the Microscopes. They only have two volumes. Loud and regular. There isn’t even a “low” volume so that you and your kids can tune out one microscope and try to listen to the other. It is absolutely chaotic. It’s impossible to get them to sync what their saying. Even if you handed your kids the same slide to do at the same time it’s too hard to get them to start simultaneously. Too make matters worse ... if your child doesn’t do what the microscope prompts them to do... such as push the “fact button” or “choose a different slide” then the microscope keeps talking and repeating itself after a few seconds. It never remains silent long enough for everyone just to listen to one microscope. It is chaotic. Even if you only had one kid or you wanted your kids to share one microscope it would be great if you could mute it. Sometimes it is nice just to look at the pictures without the audio going on and on. Especially because it won’t stay silent and repeats itself over and over. Having a young child I do think that the repeat is helpful for prompting them ... so I understand why it does it.... however for parents or older kids it would be nice to have a mute button for sanity or maximum enjoyment. You cannot turn the light on the microscope, without the audio coming on.Incase your wondering- The Manuel tells you what each button does on the microscope. There are three buttons (1,2,3) for multiple choice questions and answers. A magnifying button for “facts” or information about the slide. A volume button that is two levels- (loud and regular only). And an on/off button which turns the light on to see the slides and starts the audio.