We ordered this product to replace a Leap Frog system that we could not get to work. I love this game system! We were potty training at the time and after our son watched the Elmo video on stopping what you are doing and going to the bathroom, he started following suit. It was very easy to load and we have not had any glitches in the games. Do not be fooled by buying other games from Ebay. If you go directly to Fisher Price's website you can find games for seven dollars. Overall, we love this game system and recommend it to our friends.

I have 2 daughters age 4 and 5 and I have had a difficult time just trying to teach them basic computer skills i.e., move the mouse and click here. With this toy it came so easy to them and they are having fun learning pre-school activities. Other than having to get a software update from FP before we used it I thought it was easy to set up. The best thing is that I can leave the room and trust that they are not corrupting any data on my hard drive. Once they are in Easy Link program it is impossible for them to get to any other files or programs without a parent password.

My 3 year old calls this his internet...It's perfect because it is the only thing he can play with on the computer and he can't mess with any of my programs. We gave him his own account on our computer and it makes him feel special.

I am absolutely shocked to see a single positive review here. This toy is absolute trash.

All of the games are available free on the internet so we had already played them. The software is buggy and doesn't want to install on most of our computer even though they are all fairly up-to-date machines.

The software is laggy and it takes a while to pull up the games sometimes, even though we have a blazing fast upgraded FIOS connection.

The most annoying part is that it requires a password to close the software, so my kids can't exit it on their own. I realize this is supposed to be a "security" feature, but how about an option to turn it off?

The character pieces do not sit securely in the pad and are easily knocked over.

I am ashamed to have given this as a Christmas gift to a niece.

My 3 yo son gets very frustrated by this toy bc the games require him to move the mouse into a pretty small area, and he is not that adept at the mouse yet. There aren't very many activities that do NOT require mouse usage, and it doesn't tell you before you purchase them which don't.

Also, some of the 'keys' are geared towards different age groups. For instance, the Arthur games are better for a much older age group than the ones on the 'Fisher Price Dog' key. But ALL of them say '3 and up'. There are whole paragraphs to read on some of the Arthur games, which of course my 3 yo can't do. I have 5 of the keys and I have only found ONE game that uses the keyboard instead of the mouse.

I think I am going to put the whole system away for a while until he can click on a very specific target with the mouse. :-(

this is definetly a must have for any parent with a toddler. it's easy to install and easy to operate. just a few qualms tho. it's not mac compatible as of yet. you need to make sure you have the latest version of flash and shockwave installed. the pattern on the mouse pad messes around with optical.( i just use a regular mouse pad). now if you are tech save you can just go to the actual kids' websites but this is a definite must have if you don't want your kids accidentally deliting files on your desktop. the 5-30 dollars per key set is worth the trouble of entertaining and educating, and especially distracting your toddler without destroying ur computer.

This Fisher Price Launch pad is a great educational toy for on the computer. There are many things they can do with each character. The best thing is they have to know how to type in a password to get out of the site so they can't get on to the internet or mess up the computer. The Fisher Price Puppy is great for learning numbers and abc's. The little ones see and hear a letter and repeat it. Each character has different learning leasons puzzles, mazes, arcade, etc. I think it is a great learning toy. My grandkids are 1 & 2 and love it, even the older ones like playing on it. Fisher-Price Easy Link Internet Launch Pad

I can't recommend this high enough! I've receommended it to all my friends with small children. I've been hesitant to let me 2 1/2 year old onto the computer because he would "click" everything and go into files that he shouldn't. All that has been eliminated and he played on it for 3 1/2 hrs the first time!!!

Product works most excellent; but you can save alot of money by editing the XML file that picks which website to open based on the 3 included characters. It is in the directory where it is installed. you can edit it with notepad and change the url's. This will save you money by not buying more plug-ins.

Great idea; but charging so much for extra add-ons is insane. Anyone can reprogram the websites for each plug-in. It is that easy. Save your money and learn to use notepad!

Good choise for young-uns!

I bought this toy for my 1 1/2 year old daughter. She is stil la little small for it but we have had lots of fun with this product. As she gets older she will be able to do more on her own with out help. This toy is educational. Right now teaching ABCs and Numbers.

I got this for my 3.8 years old son - who loves to play on the 'kid' websites... but I was always worried about him downloading something undesirable (virus) because he is so click happy... with this launch pad - I am worry free once I have logged him in... he is locked into just the websites the 'keys' will launch. The keys launch educational website games - so its all win-win! Highly recommend it!

The idea of this product is a GREAT one. It takes you to existing PBS websites... but it makes it so your child can't get into other websites or files on your computer without a password. You can also set it up so printing can only be done with a password. The characters are a bit hard to snap into the product also. My son really likes it - picking out the character and exploring the different activities. I think Fisher Price should design websites that are specifically for use with this product - I mean... no ads and so everything works. By going to the existing site, it won't allow some things to work (one that I recall for sure is the Dragon Tales music section - it requires Real Player and a pop-up which the product won't allow. It doesn't give a message it just makes the error alert noise and will not work. There are other things like that that do not work, but I don't recall the specifics on all of them.) Also there are advertisements on some of the - the links don't actually work, but I find it annoying. After purchasing a product, you shouldn't have to look at ads.

I really really think it would be great if Fisher Price made the site custom and made it even more child friendly with easy to follow instructions for a 3 year old (the product says it is for ages 3 and up). It would actually not be that hard to convert the existing websites into something customized for users of this product.

The parent should definitely be there with the child when using the computer... but the child likes to be able to be independent about knowing how to work the sites and all of that. So a few simple modifications to the existing stuff would really make it so much better.

Pros:
Great Idea
Makes the Internet a safe place for children
Password Protected
You can even set a time limit

Cons:
I have found that several of the sites it takes the child to, have "URL blocked" for some of the activities/features. Making some of the features/activities/songs not work.
There are advertisements on some of the sites.
For a 3 year old the instructions aren't very clear. Like the instructions are written and not spoken and not something that a small child could do easily.

Fisher-price has themselves a winner with this product!

My 3 year old daughter can now surf the internet without needing any assistance. If you have a young kid you understand how important it is at their age to "do it myself". It couldn't be an easier concept: insert a character key into the slot and your computer brings up the specific website. When she gets bored with one, in goes another character key and on to the next site. The best part is that once a "key" is inserted, the browser is locked to those sites. My daughter will not accidentally hit any buttons and get explicit content.

She is learning lots of basic computer skills while having a fantastic time. The websites have lots of educational games, stories, and activities. Now I just hope that they continue to put out more smart keys (like Curious George), but it seems that there are no shortage of them right now. This is easily one of her favorite toys, and nothing makes a parent feel better then watching their kid have fun while learning. Just don't tell her she's learning!

I can't recommend this enough to anyone with children 3 and up.

I am thrilled with this product! My daughter is 3-years old, and she often spends time with me at work as the day comes to an end, and I need something to keep her occupied for the last hour or so. This "toy" is perfect! I set her up on my co-worker's computer, and she can't access anything on the hard drive! She simply moves the character's website she wants to visit to the middle position on the control panel, and right away, she's directed to the site! She just clicks away with the mouse and goes everywhere she wants to. She sees me check my email often, so she types away on the keyboard as well, and it doesn't effect the webpage that's up, or any other information on the computer. We simply loaded the software, plugged in the USB, and we were up and running! Thank you for a wonderful product!

I bought the FP Easy Link for my 3yo this Christmas. At that time, he had no idea how to use a mouse. Now, just one month later, he's a pro. He is learning how to spell, how to count/add, how to navigate the web (safely, I might add) and how computers can help us. I can't say enough about how nicely this particular toy has fit into our lives. I'd much rather have him playing with this than watching TV (even kid-friendly TV like PBS). He's interacting with the characters that he knows and loves and learning at the same time. What more could parents want?

I would highly recommend this toy. I have a 3 year old and she loves it. She could control it all by herself and I don't have to constantly watch her when she uses it, because she can't do anything but go to the characters websites. Its the only christmas toy that she consistently goes back to. This toy is also very durable, my daughter constantly bangs on the characters and so far they are holding up very well.

I have two boys, 6 and 3, and they absolutely love this thing! There are a ton of puzzles and different activities that they can do. We bought the Bob the builder and Thomas pieces extra, but totally worth it. I would recommend this to anyone with little kids. I even bought one for my nephew.

I think this is a great product so far! We haven't used it a ton, but it does what it says and keeps my kids where they should be. I am a bit concerned though since I tried to buy extra guys after christmas and everything seems to be gone and clearanced out (even here on Amazon). I really hope they aren't doing away with it!
My only complaint is that it has a tiny little "work" window that should fill the whole screen, but is only about 1/4 of it. My newly 3 year old has trouble keeping the mouse in that little window. I assume this is for people who use lower resolutions on their monitors. Other than that I really love it!

I bought this for my 3yr old nephew for Christmas. He loves to play on it. We put a sticker on the mouse so he'd know where to click, and he understands how to move the arrow on the screen. Once you've played a game with him, he can do it by himself. His 2yr old brother likes to stand and watch him play. My sister has to limit the time they spend on the computer now. The feature that keeps them off the internet or computer programs without an adult password is awesome so you don't have to worry about them messing up your system.
The boys know how to change the characters to switch games and we just purchased the other characters (on ebay and walmart clearance) too.
We haven't had any problems with it, and I think it's better than just watching tv because they learn shapes,and colors, and other tools.

I love the easy link launch pad. My three and four year old would play with it on the internet all day long if I let them. They go straight to the websites and I don't have to worry about them messing anything up on my computer. My kids are learning from the activities and games they play on the websites and they are also developing great hand-eye coordination as they practice using the computer mouse.

The smart keys are durable enough that I let my baby play with them in his highchair. My only complaint is that a couple of the smart keys take you to the same websites...the kids don't seem to mind because they might prefer one character over another, but I wouldn't have bought multiple smart keys that take you to the same place. And to keep the peace with my two kids...it would be great if there were a way for two kids to play some of the activities simultaneously with two separate mouses.

When I get something for myself and it doesn't meet expectations, I get disappointed. When someone gets my kids something as a gift and it comes off as a lazy way to rip people off, I get angry.

I'm actually angry about this thing. My son is 3 years old. He and his older brother (he's 6) love playing on the computer, and we've been through a lot of software. This device adds almost no value, and the web content is still chock full of poorly designed software with little replay value. There so much more interesting software for young kids than offered by this piece of parental control hardware.

Because this is just making available existing web pages, the sites are not designed to guarantee that they even fit properly in the application that the device uses. My son shouldn't have to scroll down to see parts of the page. I shouldn't have to run at a resolution above 1024x768 in order to see the whole screen. My son shouldn't have to read to be able to launch games (though if the software attempted to help him read the things, wouldn't that be nice?), and he shouldn't have to wonder why, when he clicks on his favorite PBS character, almost nothing happens because the software won't let him access the link. How about making the software say out loud that he isn't allowed to get at the thing he clicked on. How about making the software change the mouse cursor to indicate what you aren't allowed to click on? How about removing the things you're not allowed to click on? This isn't rocket science.

The games on the pages are almost all poorly designed. They don't have enough interactivity and feedback for younger kids. Take for example, one of the Clifford games. At 3, my son can find the characters they talk about, but if he accidentally drags the mouse a little while clicking, it doesn't register. Does a 3 year old know why? No. It reads aloud what he should click on. Great. They got something right. When he clicks on the right thing, it just changes the text to some success message. Nothing is read aloud. Sorry - my 3 year old can't read yet. Also, there's nothing to encourage him to click the "More" label once he's done. It's just a really lousy design.

With the technology available today, these games should be far more engaging to kids, they should be far more replayable with better sound and graphics, and I shouldn't have to worry about my kids clicking around the screen and going to scary internet places - all of these games could be taken off the internet and installed, and I wouldn't have to worry about any of that.

I think the software is awful, and the hardware adds almost no value. The only reason the hardware is even necessary is because the software is so poorly "designed". There are plenty of free internet sites (including PBS!) that have reasonable games for really young kids.

Boooo Fisher-Price. This could have been a really cool device. Now I have to waste MY time seeing if I can return this thing.

I saw this product kindof by accident through an email I was about to delete. After researching it, I thought it would be great for my 4 year old. She wants to spend more time on the computer. I love the way it locks the sites in and the kids can't mess with anything else on the computer desktop. It's so easy to go from site to site by just removing a charater and replacing it. Only a couple of things I would say is negative: putting the charaters in place are a bit scary, because I feel that they might break because of how hard you have to push them in and it makes wonder about the longevity of the product (this may be just us getting used to it though.), the second thing is some of the sites don't talk for all the games and I feel that since this product is for young users, who can't read yet, and a big draw of the product is that the children can play by themselves safely on the computer, this is a problem for them navigate the games (again, I'll be carefull to state that this is new for us and my computer my not have all the plug-ins, if this is not a problem for others) An example is on the Author site, I believe, there is a game where you build an icecream cone according to what the customer wants. Well on my computer there is no talking just the speech bubble with the words in it. So if others have this products I would love to know if it's just my computer or is the site really that way.Fisher-Price Easy Link Internet Launch Pad

I tested this on 64 bit Vista and it worked fine. However, please remember to do the following if you're having problems :

1) restart computer after software installation
2) disable script debugging (Internet Explorer)
3) disable script debugging (Other)

To do step 2 and 3 above, you need launch Internet Explorer and select menu [Tools | Internet Options] first, then go to [Advanced] tab in the [Internet Options] dialog. You will see checkboxes for step 2 and step 3 in the [Browsing] section.

Hope you find these three tips helpful. Happy parenting:-)Fisher-Price Easy Link Internet Launch Pad

This is a good product. My 3 year old enjoys some of the games. The only disadvantage is that I thought the child would be able to play the computer games by himself. Having the arrows in front of the pad, I thought that once you got him linked to the game he wanted to play with, he would be able to manipulate the game and characters. The adult has to sit and play with the child by moving the mouse. The arrows are really not useful at all.

I purchased this launch pad for my nephew who is 2 for x-mas so I guess my sister in law really gave me the review. I was told that he really loves the games and loves to play it. The fact that the games automatically come for the child is a huge plus. No searching on the web or messing with the internet The only bad thing was they had to sit there and push buttons for him because he's not so good at the computer yet and needs help with the mouse and keypad still. Overall she said he does not want to stop playing it.

We bought this for our three year old son after Christmas with some gift cards given to him. What a great purchase. From watching us, he is able to navigate a little too well on our home computer without assistance. After he inadvertantly made changes to some of my settings I thought this would keep that from happening again. Many times I would log him onto children's websites and turn my head for a second and he was already on somethin else or in a whole other program. This prevents that from happening. There is a password to log in and out. I read other reviews saying they did not like having to log out with a password but for me it is one of the features I love. Now there is no way to get to another program at all. Definitely worth the money!!!

We got this for our 4 year old for Christmas this year because she is always begging to get on the computer but never fails to "do something really bad" (to quote the older kids) to the computer when she is allowed to use it. This was super easy to install (in fact, our 10 year old took care of installation) and she has really enjoyed playing with it. It keeps her busy (and out of trouble) for at least an hour, which ensures everyone in our house continues to have clean underwear and dinner. Our 6 year old actually likes to play with this a lot too and I think they'll be happy with the three characters that came with the set for quite some time before we have to even consider buying some add-ons.

This was a Christmas present for my 3 1/2 year old daughter and she loves it! She spends hours playing (parents can set a time limit if they want to) and we have purchased some of the other plug in characters. She can visit everything from Sesame Street to Bob the Builder.

She is good at some of the games but some require reading and other skills she hasn't mastered yet so I can see this being a toy she can grow into.

My 18-month-old son already likes to push keys and move the mouse at the computer so he can use this too and there is no fear of messing up my system.

It's a definite winner!

I debated for many months on whether or not to buy the Easy Link for my 2.5 year old boy but when I came across it for 12 bucks and each of the key sets for 3 bucks each, I couldn't pass it up and I'm glad I didn't.

I was hesitant in buying it for so long because I felt it was silly to pay for a unit that gives you access to websites that are free to access even if you don't have the unit. But after reading more about it and after returning LeapFrog's Clickstart computer, I decided to try the Easy Link as my son's first experience with computers and I'm glad I did.

I will admit, I was still a little jaded at first that I had to pay money for my child to access free websites, but once I realized how easy it is to use and how much trouble it saved me, it was totally worth the money I paid for it. It was a piece of cake to install, no problems whatsoever. I was really impressed with how it kept everything in the background, even requests from cookies and my firewalls, providing your child with an uninterrupted experience. Just make sure you set your browser to allow cookies for the session and give the program permissions for your firewall or you will be logging in and out of Easy Link every 5 minutes to respond to cookie requests.

Easy Link also retains the functionality of the forward, back and refresh buttons and makes them large and colorful so they are even easier for little ones to access, while totally removing access to all the other navigation buttons and menus from your browser.

Now, it IS possible to recreate this safe internet environment without Easy Link, but having this takes all the headache out of the process and probably saves you several hours in setting up your PC to do the same thing that Easy Link automatically does for you. Not to mention, toddlers and preschoolers most likely will not be able to navigate between websites without the Smart Keys because they can't type in the URLs and wouldn't be able to read any bookmarks you made for them.

The only reason I gave it 4 stars is because I think FP should have included all the keys in the package with the unit because the cost of the unit and all the keys at retail price is kind of ridiculous. That, and the mousepad is not very good quality. Luckily you can use any mousepad. But all in all, it's a great buy. A quick and painless introduction to the internet for you and your child. Highly recommended!!

I bought this for my 2 year old grandon, he LOVES it. He plays with it all the time. He played with it with his 11 year old aunt as well. She loves it too. She says she wants one too now lol They wrote names and stuff and the train followed it well. Its great that you draw with water because there is no mess

I was looking for ways to allow my grandson to play with the computer as he wanted to, without destroying all my files....this was the perfect answer. He loves it so much that his daddy bought him one for his house. Not only is it fun, but the sites provided invaluable educational games, etc.... for him to play and learn at the same time.

Highly recommend for 2+year olds.

Freda

I had similar problems as some of the other reviewers. I could not get the keys to work in the system. I'm pretty computer-savvy and usually have no trouble at all with anything I want to do on my pc. I was able to install the system successfully, I disabled the firewall and virus scanners, and I had the thing plugged in correctly. The easy-link system would not recognize the smart-keys that I plugged in. When I plugged the system into the computer the Easy-Link light would quickly blink once and then go out. That was it. I have now tried two systems and am returning it for a refund. I'm through messing with this thing. The Fisher Price help line was not as helpful as I would have liked either. I regret ever buying this for my daughter.

My four and a half year old loves to play on the computer. I had set up some links for him under the Favorites menu, but he always managed to go into areas that I didn't like. He was discovering cartoons that were too old for him, was exposed to too many commerical images, etc. The more savvy he was getting, the more I was really having to buckle down on his Internet usage.

Then my grandmother got him this for Christmas. At first, I was concerned that this would be too young for him, but it's not! He loves having something that's just for him, and it's easy to navigate. The software installs a browser that's just for him, and it doesn't allow him to stray from the character website. There's also a password protection that keeps him in the browser and out of my email, etc. You can also set printing limits. There are little arrow keys on the unit that allow the child to play games instead of having to use the buttons on the keyboard since some games require that instead of the mouse.

It is also simple to install. You simply plug the docking station into a USB port, and then run the software CD. That's it. To start it up, you just click the appropriate link on the shortcut menu, put in the desired character "key," then go.

According to the Fisher Price website, there's more Disney keys on the way, like Cars, Handy Manny, Princess, Higglytown, etc. Of course, my son would love SpongeBob, but I doubt that will happen! But it would be good to see something like another age level up of character keys so that it can grow with him.

Just a note - Target stores have a lot of toys on clearance right now, and I picked up the Bob the Builder/Thomas and Wiggles/Barney keys for $2.98 per pack!

I got this for my son for Christmas. The software was very easy to install and get started. It was harder to get it out of the packaging than it was to install. It's kind of big, so if you don't have enough keys to fill it, I recommend leaving off the back portion of the key storage until you get more links. Once you put it on you can't take it back off. There's a lot of fun and educational games, one of my son's favorites is the potty video with Elmo, and the car racing game under the Puppy key. My son did figure out though that if your time runs out, he can wait until the computer goes back to the user name main screen and open another user account and get more time. The main annoyance with this is that the time's up alarm for the program is ringing in the background the whole time. It is easy to set up the time limits and the printer lock (one of the big features for us after he printed several pages one day). It does have several educational games with shapes, colors, and letters, as well as fun hand-eye coordination games.

This product is one of the best things I have ever bought for my nephew. He not only is learning a lot from the sites he has access to but I no longer have to worry about him getting into my files or accidently erasing some of my music(again). If you have an active child that you want to be able to play games and have access to fun activities on some safe sites and not worry about your computer files or pop ups then this would be a great purchase for you.