I learned to read with this when I was 5! Im 50. I just bought one for my grandson who graduated kindergarten, still the best! So excited some great things are still around.

This is close, and I mean really close to the old speak and spell from many, many years ago! I remember playing with this toy for hours on end as a child, and so I felt like I needed to get one for my great nephew. The monotonous, annoying voice that they use on this is almost identical if not the same one from the original speak and spell. I can't tell for sure, but it seems almost like thia new speak and spell might be slightly smaller, or just weigh a little bit less than the original. I'm not exactly sure because I don't have an old speaking spell to compare to but it definitely feels a little different. It doesn't feel this solid as the original speaking spell did either, I'm definitely afraid to drop it and feel like I need to be cautious with it. My great nephew was not super into it, because they have way cooler toys in 2022, but to me this will always be a cool toy for me to play with even if he doesn't enjoy it.

This will be good fun for my kids, and that is the bottom line. Worth the $20.

My younger sister had one of these in about 1981. I remember exactly what it sounds like--our answering machine had the same robot voice in it. I was fascinated by the Speak and Spell, and couldn't play it myself (because I'm blind, and we didn't have the version with the raised buttons--I saw that on Ebay! Wish my parents had known about it.) I don't remember if my sister got much out of her Speak N Spell, but when I saw this one, I had to get it for my own kids. Maybe I'll send one to my sister, she may get a kick out of it.

As far as I can tell, it looks like the original, and operates the same way. It is lighter weight, and may be a bit more chunky/square-shaped. But the main update is in the voice, which is less robotic than the original.

I'm sure my children would have understood the more robotic speech. Probably half of the adults buying this are getting it out of nostalgia, so I wish they hadn't changed the voice.

My twins will have fun with it. At six years old, level A is challenging! "Spell ANSWER"

My kids aren't yet allowed modern screens, so this will be as much a novelty for them as it was for us in the 80s, I'm sure. I think I'll be trying some of this company's other retro games, too.

This was a gift for my grandson. Same as his mom had and just as durable.

This brings back SO many memories! It is exactly like the Speak & Spell I remember using for hours. Ah, nostalgia! My kids went right to it, and much like me as a kid, like the "Mystery Word" (aka Hangman) game the best. So in that way, it's a hit. I'm sure there's a $0.99 app that would do the same thing - however this will be a cool thing to keep in the car or to pull out when I don't want them lost in the screen time vortex.

That being said, I think this needs some updates for today's generation.
1. The keyboard should be QWERTY. In the 70s and 80s, kids wrote the alphabet. Today they are typing in kindergarten, and having the keys in ABC layout is REALLY messing with my kids. Though it's not true to the original, this would be a much better toy if the keys were organized like they are on a typing keyboard.
2. The voice. Argh. I remember being so frustrated with this voice as a kid. You spell what you think it said, and it's wrong. So you repeat-repeat-repeat and try the other thing it might be saying. Nope. Finally it tells you the word and you're like "REALLY?". So the nostalgia is cool for me, but the kids just think it's annoying. I think there should be a toggle switch for the original synthesized voice and then a more "Siri"esque voice that the kids can actually understand.
3. Kids can pick a level: A, B, C, or D. But there isn't really a way to "level-up". It would be awesome if there were a new game mode where kids could earn points, and move up through the levels more like the games they are accustomed to, and to do some head-to-head play games against each other.
4. I think there should be more words. The original Speak & Spell was limited by the technology of the time. There's no reason this one can't have spelling lists from K-12 loaded into it. Heck, it should talk to my laptop and let me enter the week's spelling words to add to the preloaded list. It seems unnecessarily limited.

So, bottom line, this is exactly like it was when I was a kid, which is super cool for me. I'd like to see some updates to make it more functional and entertaining for kids today.

Edited after more time playing with it: bumped up my rating because my kids are quickly making progress in being able to spell challenging words, and they haven't lost interest. Educational with staying power!