PYXEL A Coder’s Best Friend

Edit: Lights died in a month; replacement unit never powered on - DOA. Extremely faulty and poor quality control for this price point. Amazon wouldn't send us a third unit and would only give us a full refund. We're probably better off for it. Dropped to 1 star - avoid this. My daughter spotted this in the dreaded Amazon catalog they send out before Christmas and it became her most-wanted item. Had it not been for this, I probably would have avoided it after seeing some videos and reading some reviews. Still, it did what it was supposed to and despite some awkward interface issues (the "website" you access on the dog to do the coding reminds me of an old Geocities page) and fidgety connection routines, we were able to make some fun codes and enjoy it. January 30th, all of the lights stopped working. The LEDs you program for the eyes and mouth were totally gone. Thank God Amazon extends the return window for Christmas as this was the next-to-last day to get a return. If it was solely up to me, I would've taken the refund in a heartbeat because, despite the early novelty, it hasn't seen much play (another reason to be spooked by the failing LEDs). But since it was THE Christmas gift of 2023, I am getting a replacement. Here's hoping it's more durable, but my expectations are low. I can't recommend this product -- there are more effective ways for kids to learn to code, and cheaper, too. That would be forgiven if the product were easier to use and would last more than the bare-minimum of days to avoid the return window.