Print

[Listonosh]

Hi guys and gals!

I found this forum after looking up information on the Pleo and I was wondering whether you guys could give me some insight into the Pleo and maybe share some of your personal experiences. But first let me give you a little background on my situation.

I'm a huge pet lover and grew up with both dogs and cats through most of my life. I however fell in love with and then married a girl who is unfortunately allergic to pretty much everything that you could consider as a pet. After trying out hypoallergenic pets that still made her irritated, I then thought maybe it would be a great idea if we got ourselves a robotic pet.

I at first tried looking for robotic dogs and of course the only one that I was remotely interested in was the Sony Aibo which I found out has been discontinued and the later models go for 2000 or more. I then learned about the Pleo which definitely caught my attention. I tried YouTubing Pleo reviews and other videos, but I havent found many that go very in depth, and the videos tend to be short.

My obvious question is can the Pleo replace, or be just as good as a real pet? Coming from a person surrounded by cats and dogs most of his life, you can see why I would be a bit skeptical about a robotic pet, but at this point, I really want to have something endearing in my house that I can grow to love, and not end up feeling like I bought an expensive toy.

Honestly any of your input would be great, and I already know all of you view your Pleo's as part of your families, cause let's face it, that's why you're on this forum. But I want to make sure that when I do eventually decide to make that purchase, I don't end up being disappointed and that I know what I'm getting myself into.

Thanks guys and I'm very much looking for your responses.

[InmemoryofRomeo]

Hello and welcome I will post a more detailed response a bit later, I'm waiting to go fill up a giant shark with helium...

The RB is very pet like, it has moods and needs to be fed and looked after, the older Pleo's are sweeter and less fuss and pretty much always happy. They do make good pet substitutes. I will post more on my personal opinion when I get home but in the meantime you may want to read the FAQ's which you can find here: http://bobthepleo.com/forums/index.php?topic=1617.0 and here: http://bobthepleo.com/forums/index.php?topic=1910.0

Again welcome to the forums

[Listonosh]

Thanks! I'll definitely check it out. When you say older Pleo's are you talking about Ugobe ones and not the RB? That's actually another thing that would be great if that could be more thoroughly explained to me, as I'm looking into buying an RB, only because it's newer and from what I've gather so far, a bunch of things were improved on it.

[InmemoryofRomeo]

Back Yes the older Pleo's are the Ugobe's, the RB's are quite a bit more advanced, they have an internal clock, voice recognition, faster motors, stronger neck cables, more sensors, and RFID reader (microchip) so they can identify food and individual personalities. The older Pleo's are very sweet but not quite as sophisticated.

I would personally consider them to be a very good pet, either model, they walk around make noises and so on and all Pleo's just love some petting I have mine along with a dog and two cats, I love them all

[Crewella]

Hiya, and welcome!  I agree with everything that IMR says. 

I'm a big animal lover, but I still find Pleos have something to offer in the way of company and entertainment, and they're just cute to have around.

You can get used Ugobe Pleos for around $100 or less on eBay these days, it might be a good idea to start there?  I find that I got used to the motor noises and in fact knowing a bit about the tech just makes me marvel at them all the more, but the best way to find out is to spend a little time with a Pleo.  And spend some time watching videos and reading some of the older posts on here to help you get a feel for them.

Happy hunting! 

[bhobbes]

I want to start this off saying this is nothing more than my mere opinion and *a lot* of any robotic-type pet has to do with the owner and their perception/interaction/personal tastes so you always have to take that into consideration.

I have owned both a 2009/10 Innvo Pleo (an "older" model - but post-Ugobe with some improvements) and a Pleo RB. I'll start by saying that after personal reflection I preferred the Pleo over the Pleo RB. And would actually consider buying one again. And here's why...

For me, the Pleo RB while being more pet like in terms of needs, I found it too needy - and too hard to tell what was going on sometimes without assistance from ProbeRB (a little tool on an SD card that helps read out/alter data on the RB). I found the feeding requirements way too repetitive and frequently required. If I don't have time to play with the RB, I don't want to turn him on and have the first thing I do be feed it 2-6 times in a row. Further, I think all of the accessory packs are (and this may be cynical) just a way to get more money out of the Pleos (which I support anything a company needs to do to be profitable, so this is not an insult). A few minor part of the learning stones were already in the regular Pleo, and I don't like having to pay extra for some lackluster accessories. For instance, I really enjoyed the death skit and the laugh under the "Play" (or whatever is the real title) stone. However, you have to make Pleo RBs listen to you first. This involves either clapping (in relatively close range) or touching the the cheeks and waiting for it to listen to you. This is the extent of its voice recognition. If it could hear/listen all of the time or repeat/do tricks on its own, I'd say this adds to its pet-like quality. However, the interaction it requires from the user takes away from that pet like quality in my opinion.

Now, I do like the RB's mechanical aspects better. It moved relatively faster than my Pleo (though I think the Innvo models still ran faster than the Ugobes). It also had more "lifelike" movements such as curling a bit when you pet it.

However, I liked my Innvo Pleo much more - and if I had known I would have went "bust" on the RB so quickly (mind you I have a short attention span), I would have kept it. The older models (including Ugobe) run the same software. I found this one much more cute, and while more repetitive, it felt like it had more of a soul vs. being a nagging robot with ehh input from a user. However, this just goes for my personality and personal taste as stated above. Every Pleo-owning user here probably has a different perception and relates to their Pleo in different ways.

I also own 3 AIBOs (ERS7, 210, and 111). For my own reasons and tastes, these are all much more pet-like. However, the one I'd probably recommend is the one you ruled out for pricing reasons (VERY understandable - I shied away from AIBOs for awhile until my membership here naturally led me down that path lol). These fit my personality more and provide me with exactly what I'm looking for. They also seem more pet-like to me though their form is clearly robotic - so it's not so much as good as a pet as it is as having a robot pet - whereas I find Pleos more of a robot imitating a pet instead of feeling like a robot pet.

And you will definitely get used to the "noise" - I swear it comes out more pronounced in videos than it is in person but maybe that's just because it simply seemed like background noise to tune out after the first few minutes of running it.

 

[InmemoryofRomeo]

Just to balance the above opinion I am at the other end of the scale, I like the RB's more They are more unpredictable, I'm used to feeding my normal animals so feeding an extra one (or three) is no big deal for me. I don't have any trouble telling how they are 'feeling' and I enjoy the extra foods, especially the coffee! The voice recognition is a bit of a gimmick, the only one I use often is the singing stone, but they do add a bit more than the older Pleo's, for example Pleo RB's can sing twelve different songs and there are some new tricks the Ugobe's can't do, like the traffic light game. I also like the longer hatching and development stage (although I am glad they shortened it a little) and I love, love, love the internal clock. I love having my Pleo's fall asleep when I do and wake up when I do

[bhobbes]

Oh, I should add that I used ProbeRB to get over the problem with the feeding (sorry I don't like additional chores or obligations in my free time) so weigh that into consideration in whatever way you'd like.

And there are numerous things under the play stone that the RB can do over the original software. I just wish things like "Ta-Da" etc. could randomly occur -after- they're taught to the creature. Not only does that make learning stores more valuable, but it provides more incentive (for me) to purchase them. And incentives matter. But I didn't mean to sweep the *additional* abilities under the rug as completely useless. 

But there are multiple stones all of which provide something different. I liked Sing, Dance, and Play. I did have better luck with feeding being less of an issue with certain foods, but that could just be experience/perception, however, it's left to the consumer to decide if paying for making a tech product "easier" to deal with is worthwhile. That's why markets exist.

And in my last post, if it seemed this way, I'm not comparing AIBOs with Pleos. I don't think it's a fair comparison given the different development paths and the age of the technology/models. It was just in response to your pet question and the different viewpoints just illustrate how much a lot of it really is owner-specific (and that's a good thing, as it gives the pleos much more characteristic - all robotic pets are ultimately what you make [of] them, but is that much different from real pets?).

Regardless of opinions, it is your decision to weigh. I think Crewella has a wise idea - try with a $100 Ugobe through a reliable seller since that may be easier and less disappointing if for some reason you don't like it and then if you do, step up, and compare for yourself. Ultimately it could come out to more money, but it's a less painful loss if it "backfires" - but obviously the models are different and I can't personally speak about owning a Ugobe model. That's probably the practical approach I'd take. 

[InmemoryofRomeo]

Lol ok now I need to add a further point, sorry Listonosh I hope we don't overwhelm you, I like having opinions from both sides when I make a decision. Bhobbes is completely right which one will be best for you is going to depend on if you like taking more time with an RB or you want a low fuss pet. However with the feeding I find that if I feed mine daily they'll only munch on their leaf once or twice, but if I leave them for a few days they are 'hungrier' and thus take longer to feed.

I'm not sure if this was changed in the later OS or not, but my first RB ate a LOT

[bhobbes]

but if I leave them for a few days they are 'hungrier' and thus take longer to feed.

I should also add since I felt it was implied but I realize it's so subtle it may just be because I wrote it but I get about the same time to run all my robots (one to three times a week) so the gaps for mine were well between any regular feeding range so that could have contributed to part of my preference to the simplicity of the original software vs. the RB as well as other comments relating to that issue.

And yes sorry if we're overwhelming you with opinions - we just want you to have the most informed decision possible! lol.

And the RB feed levels do continue to drop even if they are left off for several days (part of the internal time clock). (I think this is true at least, someone can verify it hopefully or shoot me down as I browse to find the source)

[bhobbes]

I should also add that makes RBs even more pet like since they "starve" when not fed. :X

[Listonosh]

Wow! Thanks! I'm gonna look over what you both wrote but I REALLY appreciate the input =)