VTech Kidi Star Karaoke Machine is a great home entertainment unit. Some great features: The flashing lights are great, and not so bright that they blind you when you look at them. Build quality is ok, the plastic stand is very flimsy. The voice effects are easy for a young child to change, and the audience “clap” and “cheer” buttons are fantastic ideas. There are 6 games built in. It powers off on its own to save battery.
A few cons: The microphone arm doesn’t really stay put, even when tightened, and always wants to “rest” in its lowest position. This results in feedback (a low hum) with the built-in speaker. The speaker itself has volume controls, but even the loudest setting is too low. This may be for safety reasons, but every child who has been over to play with this wants to sing along, and hear themselves, to music. That is difficult with the volume setting as it is.
The “audio-input” is probably the weakest feature of the device. It accepts only a head-phone input (1/8″ input, comes with the cable) which basically means plugging it into a phone or mp3 player; no bluetooth here. There is a “tray” which designed to hold the device.
Overall, this is still a good, solid product and nice for kids from 3-10. As a parent I would love to see more “clap”, etc buttons on the microphone and the built-in games are perhaps something only very young children will use.
From manufacturer:
- Music Magic mode turns down the main voice of included songs or songs accessed through a mobile device.
- Connects to MP3 players or mobile devices with the included audio cable so you can play songs from your own collection.
- Includes six built-in games, a voice changer that has five different voice effects, fun sound effects and eight original songs.
- Twist the disco light 180 degrees for bright and colorful light effects that create a great atmosphere for singing and dancing.
- Use the built-in recorder to record yourself for up to five minutes.
