ChatNow communicators- are they worth it?

[tdanette]

I was looking around my Wal-Mart this afternoon and saw they had the Hasbro ChatNow Communicators for $35 ($69.99), flip or slide. But I wonder- do they work and how well? I'd like to get the kids (7&9) one but I'm a little leery.

[nikkilugi]

I bought my youngest son a pair for Christmas. He and his brother are just now opening the set tonight to try out at their Nana's house. From reading the package I think they will be fun for them. Much easier for them to use than the handheld Uniden walkie-talkie radio's we bought for them last year.

[Floridasunshine]

Not really... they only work on a $5 mile radius .... They also have to be 'on' to receive a call (unless that has been improved by the manufacturer since Christmas 2005). They really eat the batteries (I think 3 per phone). If their friends do not have a chat now phone, they won't work.

 

If you want something like this, I would just go with those long range walkie talkies, or those cheaper pre-paid cell phones.

[nikkilugi]

Ours say 2 miles and frankly that is fine for boys that are only 6 and 7 as mine are. We purchased rechargeables and my boys have had fun playing with them so far according to my mom.

 

My boys couldn't master the walkie talkies and holding the button down to talk and the walkie talkies have to be on to receive transmissions as well so I don't see much difference there.

 

I am happy with my purchase - they enjoy them so far.

[hpowers]

One of ours wouldn't work right so I'm taking ours back. I think I would rather have the real walkie talkies than these POC for $50.

[tdanette]

Thanks for the replies- I'm still wavering. Maybe they'll mark then down even further and give me that final push

[littlesdcen]

I bought them last year for my 5 & 8 year old the slide ones on clerance at Sams for $20. They were not what I expected. Kinda of complicated for kids. I would go with a standard set of walkie talkies.

[sweetheart76pa]

IMO all of the "Now" stuff is junk... they eat batteries like crazy and are overpriced... yet my 8 year old DD has VideoNow, ChatNow, TvNow, and VcamNow and loves all of it... I wish they made a universal adapter for this stuff because the cost of batteries is killing me (even with rechargables)