Sphero really outdid themselves with the creation and design of the Mini. The shell is so easy to pop off when you need access to the charging port, but I've found that it will never come off on its own (unless dropped. Oops). It matches my walking speed perfectly, and keeps me occupied for much longer than I'm willing to admit. And when it dies, it's so easy to remove the shell and plug it in. I've found that it'll usually charge within an hour.

When opening the product, the first thing I noticed was how simple and easy it was to get started. I simply plugged in the sphero to wake it up, downloaded the app, and it connected within seconds. This product doesn't require any settings or accounts to use. I'd highly recommend this product for children with phones, or adults bored in the office.

I've owned a few Sphero products, and this one by far is the most useful, for my cat that is. My cat loves this thing! Don't know about the "STEM" value, but the it should really be sold at pet stores.

It's easy to set up on you ipad or iphone, just install the app. No registrations, or pairing, so anyone with a smartphone could control it.

I've only had a few problems,
One, it seems to disconnect from the bluetooth while using it more often than you think it should.
Two, it quickly loses orientation, and will go off in the wrong direction. Probably just a characteristic of the gyros, and the device being so small. It would be nice if the UI was designed to quickly put it back into orination mode, but currently, this is a little awkward.
Three, like most small RF battery powered vehicles, it doesn't work on thick carpet. You''l need hardwood floors for best performance.

Other than that, it's great. I would like to buy additional shells for it, but they're hard to find, and typically more expensive than buying a new ball. Please offer new shells for sale.

My 7 year old son loved this! It's so much more versatile than I thought it would be. Don't be discouraged by the packaging or lack of instructions. Let a tech-savvy child download the app and they'll figure it right out. So many cool things to do with it - you can drive it around in several different modes, and play a series of built in games, among several other things. It's really very neat.

FINALLY MY CAT HAS SHOWN INTEREST IN A SPHERO TOY!!!

I thought I was gonna be all about the branded Sphero toys after a very successful run-in with their new BB-9E but then they went an introduced miniature Sphero balls and I had to get myself one in green. It's my son's favorite color so I quickly rationalized that it's a toy for both of us. But, like with the BB-9E, he's terrified of this thing, too. There was hope for a second there when he found it on the carpet in the morning after I'd played around with it the night before after he'd gone to bed. He brought it to me and his mom and announced, "An egg!" Because it's actually just a hair smaller and obviously rounder than a plastic Easter egg. Feels like one, too. So there was promise. My wife has me load up the app and give it a run for him and he was immediately over it. He jumped on our bed and wanted nothing more to do with it.

But you know who loves it? Our cat. That cat's ignored the full-size Sphero, Ollie, and BB-9E but THIS ONE is something she'll stalk around the ottoman.

The good - It's smaller but no less solid or speedy than the larger models. I imagined it'd be a significant drop in quality or speed or SOMETHING because it's not only smaller but significantly less expensive than the larger models but I haven't found this to be the case at all. It even runs on our tufted rugs which ave texture/different heights. I'd have been understanding if it couldn't overcome the heights but it hasn't been the case. Your (miniature) mileage may vary, though.

The bad - Still terrifies my son. Isn't branded (I'd be down for a mini BB-8) so the app feels light compared to all that the Star Wars models come with. Completely delivers on all that's promised so that's more an observation than a true "bad". I'm gettin' greedy, clearly.

The unexpected - Twice now I've had to stop and restart the app because it's tried to load up in portrait mode with half the screen black and the load screen basically only being half there. I couldn't rotate the phone and have it be corrected I just had to stop the app completely and then re-open it. Once open the apps been solid, like all of their stuff, but that did happen twice so it's kind-of, sort-of something that happens. Easily fixed so not a bad, just an unexpected.

Off to play with the cat and hopefully not give my son nightmares!

This is easy to use. My kid was so excited about it. Like most holiday gifts, the excitement wore off. She occasionally gets it out to play with and still enjoys it when she does.