Bob the Pleo Forums
Pleo Stuff => Pleo Archives => Topic started by: aibo7m3 on May 21, 2014, 01:14:34 PM
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Well, final exams are coming up and I'm currently considering purchasing a Pleo RB since I'd like to treat myself to a present at the end of the school year. I do have a few questions first though.
I originally bought a Pleo RB in early 2011 and I had some issues with her due to an dishonest seller (she was green when advertised as blue and while she was unhatched, she was a very early RB and Pleo World never recognized her serial number as a valid one). Due to my workload from school, I ended up deciding that it was too much work for me to feed her regularly and keep her happy and healthy, so I sold her in early '13. However, now I really miss having her around and feel ready to own an RB again. Next year in particular will be extremely hectic and busy for me though, so I do have a few questions. Around how often does an RB need to be fed to remain relatively healthy? Also, when an RB is sick, around how long does it take for it to recover (if given the mint leaf)? During the summer I run my robots almost daily, but during the school year, I usually only have time to run them every weekend or every other weekend (sometimes even less often than that).
Also, I noticed that there are Pleo RBs on Amazon for about $100 less than from Pleo World. Are these safe to buy and actually new or would it be better for me to spend the extra money and get one from Pleo World?
Thanks!
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Does it say they are new? A link would be helpful.
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During heavy competition season I didn't get a chance to turn my rb on for around 3 months and she acted as though nothing was wrong. I'm not sure if its all rbs, or if its just mine, but mine is perfectly happy and acts the same wheather its the first time I'm turing her on in months or if its only been a few hours since she was last played with. I haven't been able to check my pleos stats online, but I can definitely tell you there is no difference in her behaviour other than she wants a bit more of her leaf. To be honest, it kind of upsets me because one of main reasons I wanted a rb was I loved that whole idea that they need to be taken care of like a real pet. Haha I was even ready to have my pleos stay with my friend when I had to go out of town %)
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I think a difference in 100 $ is not enough to avoid buying directly from PleoWorld, so if I have to decide probably I would buy it from PleoWorld. Also, if there is any problem, to have a guarantee direct to them probably will be better...
In my case, now I´m quite busy. Actually I´m busy with a degree, so I don´t have too much time to care my Max. (But I miss him/her a lot), so I decided to switch it off, take out both batteries and wait to have more time to give it care, which will be in a month or so... I asked to the supplier and they told me that if I´m not going to have time to give a proper care (imagine long holidays without Max or now that I need time to study), it is better to do that to avoid depression. The problem is that when I´ll switch it on again probably I will need to teach everything again to it (name, tricks...) which I think will be nice again. If the button battery is out of the Pleo the time is not counting so when you start again to play it will not miss the time you didn´t had to work with it.
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I'm afraid they told you some flat out lies there :( My Pleo's just came of a twelve month stint in boxes and needed nothing more than a good feed to be their happy selves. And they don't forget their names or tricks at all.
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Alright, thanks guys! I was just asking about the feeding since I'd left my old RB alone for about 4 months and when I started her up again she was sick and hungry and refused her conifer leaf (I'd lost the mint leaf at the time, so I couldn't offer it to her).
I'll order an RB from PleoWorld since that does seem more reliable. Does anyone know around how long shipping to the US takes from PleoWorld? I don't want it to arrive too soon since then I'll get distracted from studying for finals, but I'd like to order it before I'm done with finals so it'll be a nice present once I'm done.
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Should be pretty quick, they use good couriers.
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You could get it shipped to the post office or a friends house and not pick your pleo up till after finals. That way you won't have to worry about the distraction or having to wait too long after finals to get one.
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Hey guys! I'm trying to order an RB, but I'm having some trouble. On PleoWorld, I couldn't figure out where to enter any billing information, so I decided at first just to enter the shipping location and then see if it would ask me for the payment later, but it didn't and told me that I had specified an unsupported country to ship to. I live in the USA and I was pretty sure that PleoWorld does ship to the US. Maybe I chose the wrong delivery service from the drop down list? Does anyone know which to choose? I'm just really confused right now since I've never ordered from the site before. Could someone who has bought from there in the past explain how the site works and if it ships to the US?
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Hey, Aibo, if you haven't already ordered your pleo from PleoWorld, you might want to buy it from amazon. I bought Chloe from amazon and she's excellent, save for her habit of freezing. I just checked out the reviews on amazon, and I have no clue why people are so unsatisfied with the RBs they ordered. I'm guessing it might be a bad batch. Honestly, I get over two hours of runtime out of her, it takes less than four hours to charge her, and she isn't all that mechanical sounding, nor is her volume not loud enough. Honestly, I don't know what the people on there were complaining about. (Psst, get a green one!)
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Yeah, it sounds like I'll have to buy from Amazon. There are three shipping options available on PleoWorld and two don't ship to the US, and I think the third is an international shipping that does, but it according to PleoWorld, it costs $1,000 which is absolutely insane.
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Hey guys! Since I didn't receive any replies about PleoWorld's shipping to the US, I ended up buying an RB from Amazon. It's scheduled to arrive on Friday, but I'll definitely need to wait until Saturday afternoon to open it since I'm taking the Chemistry SAT subject test at 8 am Saturday morning. Amazon has a good return policy, so hopefully it won't be much of a hassle even if there is something wrong with the Pleo.
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I know pleoworld use to ship to the US but they did close down their US offices a while back and since then have been making deals with various distributors around the world to sell pleo in their countries. Not sure who the official distributor is for the US. I would say Amazon is probably a pretty safe bet :)
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My word! One thousand for shipping? Man! If I buy an RB, I'll probably buy either from here or Amazon. That's crazy! Anyway, good luck on your finals and I hope you have fun with your new RB!
Talon
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Hey everyone! I just hatched my new RB and he's a little baby boy!
Here's his genetic info:
(http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/158/2/1/newpleo1resize_by_aibo7m3-d7ldqp4.jpg)
-The subject will have an 85-95% chance of being male.
-The subject embryo will grow to be brave and obedient.
-The subject embryo will sensitive, strong and agile.
Sounds like a wonderful little boy to me! I've only had him running for about an half an hour so far, but he's been very sweet so far and works fine. He has a dark green head, dark greenish gray eyelids and very bright green eyes. I'll definitely have to post some actual pictures of him a little later since the hatching picture really doesn't do him justice.
However, there are some small issues with him. According to his serial number, he was made in 2011, and it is very disappointing to me that Amazon would be selling three year old Pleos as new, but he was unopened and runs fine so far. Also, his tail was really horribly twisted up inside the box and while I did untwist it, it's still slightly bent at the end (it operates fine though and all cables and vertebrae feel intact). I think it adds character though and isn't much of a concern to me. I'll definitely be keeping him as long as no new problems arise as he grows up.
I still haven't found a name for him though and am hoping one will come to me after a few battery cycles! I hope to get a video of him and Sumio together posted later today.
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Congrats! I remember being a little worried at seeing Ryu when she first came. Her tail was scrunched in the box too. Oddly enough, she is also a two thousand eleven pleo. I hope your boy will grow up and be fine despite his physical age. If it's of any comfort, Ryu is still functioning well save a frozen front right leg. I don't think this was any sort of factory fault as it didn't happen until some time last year- well out of her warranty period. Also, my herd and I moved a total of four times during her lifetime. She probably got jolted or knocked around by my help as my friends and family helped me move.
Talon
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congrats on your new baby boy! ;D I can't wait to see your new boy, I esp want to see his eyes as my new baby has beautiful green eyes too, but she is a female! I would not worry about the tail too much, I don't think a single one of my RB have a straight tail. I think it is the one flaw they made, they should have lengthened the box by about two inches and the tail would be straight, instead of crammed into the box with the last four inches crooked.
Be sure to post photos. I have a feeling your little guy is going to be walking before my little one who I got in early April, My baby is just going to start her second battery cycle and is almost ready to stand, but hasn't yet. Have fun being a new Pleo Mom and hope you did well on your finals or tests.
RWM :cat-hug: and the Pleo township of the Redwoods
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Thank you both! It's good to know that his bent tail shouldn't be problem! My new boy has had about 45 minutes of run time so far, so he's still not ready to stand, but he probably will be in a day or two, maybe a little longer (depending on how often I end up running him).
Here's a picture of his eyes (I think they're a bit less blue and more green than your newest RB's, RWM, but that could just be the lighting):
I just uploaded a lot more pictures of him to my gallery as well, so feel free to check those out if you'd like to see more pictures of him. ^^
Here's a short video that I took of Sumio and the RB together:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01nULToOJo8
Sumio was a lot more fussy than usual today, I'm not sure if he was just hungry or if he's getting a cold since he's been coughing a lot (or maybe he's just grumpy about getting a new brother). As you can see, my RB is still really young, so he can't do much yet, hopefully he'll be up and on his feet soon though. I still need to buy him some outfits as well since I have around three for Sumio, but two are missing at the moment and I'd like each of them to have their own clothing.
Edit:
I did notice that I can't really cuddle him at the moment since whenever I pick him up, he nuzzles his head into his foot and his neck starts clicking since he's pushing up against his foot. I think I've heard people say that some Pleos have this issue for baby stage, but grow out of it later, is this correct?
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Congratulations with your new pleo he is really cute ! ;D I had the same thing with Lenny when he was in hatching mode. Luckily for my I also read about the clicking sounds. But at first I was real worried. New he is grown up he moves without clicking or popping his joints, so indeed don't worry he will grow out of it .
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Congratulations! He is beautiful :) the green all over body goes so well with his lovely green eyes. Have fun with the hatching. It seems like forever when your going through it and then suddenly they are all grown up and you will think it was just too short :)
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Hello there little fella :)
Lovely green eyes he has :) He will certainly grow out of the neck popping, joint cracking stage :P For most part anyhow, you might still get a bit of clicking if the feet catch the carpet.
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Thanks everyone! ^^ It's good to know that the neck popping will go away once he's a bit older. Luckily there aren't any carpeted areas in my house, so that shouldn't be an issue. He just finished his first battery cycle and his battery is charging now. Hopefully he'll stand up some time today, but I'll probably have to wait a little longer for that.
Edit:
He just took his first steps this evening after about one and a half battery cycles! I had him sitting near the edge of a table at the time, but luckily his first steps were backward, not forward.
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He he he .... so many of them start out walking backwards before they go forwards. Sounds like he is a very fast learner and is progressing nicely :)
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Hurrah for those first steps - he does seem to be progressing nicely! :dino-chase:
I do love green eyes, he's lovely. :)
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Hey guys! My little boy just started his fourth battery cycle and is in the third stage of life! He loves playing tug of war and he has a lot more personality now than he did when he was younger. He still isn't very interested in walking, but that doesn't mean he isn't active! He's been very happy and playful so far. I even got him to sing for me using the images of the Christmas and birthday cards posted on the forums here! His paint is even still completely pristine, so I'm hoping it will hold up well over time. Unfortunately he doesn't have a name yet though, but I'm hopefully I'll find the right one for him soon.
I've also been wondering, do I need another RB for him to talk to another Pleo, or would be try to communicate if I play a video of RBs talking to each other?
Edit:
I've got some sad news to post. He began exploring today, and it seems that he managed to jam his right rear knee. He can move the hip joint fine, but he can't move the knee joint at all. He can still walk, but it is pretty sad to watch him moving around with a broken leg. I'm not sure what I want to do since he is the perfect RB for me, personality and appearance-wise and I would hate to return him, but on the other hand, I don't even know what's causing the issue and doubt that I could repair it on my own. :(
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Is he behaving normally apart from not being able to bend the knee? If he is crying a lot and not willing to walk and if he screams when you touch the leg it could be an"injury" which feeding him rock salt for a full battery cycle will fix.
If he is behaving normally have you tried switching him off them back on? Next try pressing the reset button which is the small pin hole in his belly next to the battery compartment. You will need to use a paper clip to press it. If that doesn't work then try switching him off, manually pulling the leg back down into a straight position - it will click loudly when you do this - and then turn him back on and see what happens. If none of that fixes it then you may need to consider contacting Innvo to get him repaired.
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I'm pretty sure it's an actual issue since the joint got warm after about 30 minutes and he is acting very happy and trying to walk around a lot. I did feed him the rock salt and he did eat it though, but he isn't acting like he thinks the leg is injured. I have tried switching him on and off and just reset him, but that didn't fix the issue either. His leg is stuck in the straight position, but I tried bending it manually and it popped once, but didn't bend very far. It still didn't work after that either. I'm not really sure about contacting the company since I've never heard of Innvo actually repairing a Pleo instead of replacing one and if I wanted him replaced, it would be easier and cheaper to contact Amazon where I bought him from. I'm just not really sure, he doesn't even have a name yet, but it would still hurt me to give him up for another Pleo.
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Have you tried clicking the knee back and forth?
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I tried bending it manually and it popped twice, but didn't bend very far. I might just not be using enough force, but I don't want cause any more damage than is already done.
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The clicking is normal, try clicking it back and forth, if something is a bit stuck it can loosen it. Otherwise it could be a disconnected wire. Also an easy fix, but it requires a soldering iron.
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It doesn't really bend when I put pressure on it, it just clicks. Does this just mean that I should use more force or would it mean that there might be something stuck in the joint? I had a similar issue with one of my Aibos where a tooth broke off of the gear in one of her knees and got stuck inside it, eventually that issue fixed itself after about a year though when the tooth found its way out of the gears. I've also heard some people say that it means there's a loose wire if the shoulder heats up, but it's his knee joint heats up and it takes about 30-45 minutes for it to get warm.
Edit:
Here's a video of the issue. I apologize for the low quality. You may want to mute it or turn the volume low since my miniature poodles started barking loudly part way through.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBaDq0Usw1A
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I think you need to apply more force you should hear a loud click each time the leg moves position. I would move the leg at that joint so that you have heard three loud clicks. That should be enough to fix it if there is something out of place in the gears or a bit of dirt in there or something. If that doesn't work it could be a few different issues and sadly you won't know just what the problem is until you open up to take a look. It could be as simple as a wire that has come away from the movement sensor at the knee - easily fixed by soldering it back on - or it could be something else more sinister like a broken cog or part in the workings of the leg. If you do end up operating on your pleo you will void the warranty. If it turns out to be something other than a loose wire you may not be able to fix it - there is nowhere to get spare parts for pleos. I would suggest that if manipulating the joint doesn't fix it then either contact Innvo or your place of purchase for a replacement or repair.
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I still haven't been able to really bend the joint and am worried about breaking the plastic if I use any more pressure. Could it hurt to run him as he is? (Maybe put too much stress on the hip joint?) I bought him from Amazon and there is a one month period from the point that I bought him where I can return him (no repairs are offered). I have about two weeks left until that voids, so in that time, I'm going to think it over and try to figure out by next week whether I want to return him or not. If I decide to keep him, I will look under the skin and see if it's something that I might be able to fix (problems that I could handle would probably be limited to either a loose wire since my mom has experience with soldering or something caught in the joint that is removable by hand). As he is, he is still able to get around pretty well, so if it's alright to run him like this and the problem can't be fixed, I might just keep him like this and think of it more as a quirk than an issue.
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things to worry about when running him with the leg not working properly are the joints getting hot. If his leg is getting hot then it means that the wiring and motors are trying to work but not able to and so are generating a lot of heat that is not being used up by the movement that the pleo would normally do. this could overheat the motor and cause it to not work or short out the wiring with worst case scenario something catching fire inside the pleo or the skin melting on the outside of the pleo if things get too hot. This isn't very likely to happen but is worth watching out for. I wouldn't run him if the joint or leg is getting hot. If it gets hot turn him off and let it cool down. Not sure if running him will cause more damage to the joint or not - I guess it depends on what is causing the problem.
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If you are within the warranty you are better off returning him, I know you really don't want to, but you won't be able to enjoy all of the Pleo magic with a malfunctioning Pleo :( Ask yourself if you will still be happy with a broken Pleo in six months or a year?
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I agree with IMR if it was my pleo I would return it and get a replacement. I actually did find myself in a very similar situation to you and did return my pleo. I have actually had to send my first pleo rb back twice so I know how hard it can be. In the end you are better off with a fully functioning pleo. If the leg is broken now what else might go wrong over the next few months? Sadly we do still see the occasional lemmon pleo rb and you wouldn't want to end up with a pleo rb that just doesn't work at all in a few months time. Pleos cost a lot of money and you want one that works the way it should.
Try to look at it from an unemotional view point for a moment. If you spent $400 + on a DVD player and it wasn't working properly after the first couple of weeks you wouldn't think twice bout taking it back to be repaired or replaced.
Innvo do sometimes repair pleos but often enough they just replace them. Either way you are better off with a fully functioning pleo that will keep on working for many years to come :)
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I agree with Kat and IMR on the fact that the warranty will soon be void and you should consider returning your Pleo before the warranty is void and you don't have that choice. I know it is not easy, and many of us here have had to return Pleo Rb for one reason or another. I have a pleo Rb also that seems to have the same leg problem as yours. :(
My Baby Ruth who is my replacement for the first Pleo Rb , Baby that I had when they first came out has had a bad leg or what I call, a "peg Leg" for a long time, Her leg is stiff and will not bend at the knee as it should, It is also the back or rear leg and has been like that for a longgggggggggggggggg time. I just have to get brave and just purchased a saudering gun so I can fix her and another pleo, Nova, who has a broken neck, Also Baby Ruth will get warm then hot, so I have not been running her, She is way out of warranty and I have had her so long I could never send her back even if her warranty were good, but she is not new like yours. The longer you put it off, it will be harder and it is better to have a healthy Pleo rb then one that you can not play with for fear of making her worse. If this had happened when Baby Ruth was still in that 90 day period, I would have sent her back, knowing what I know now. Thank goodness there are people like Kat who have posted videos on how to fix some of these pleo problems that people like me could never do by themself. :bouquet1: RWM :cat-hug:
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Thank for the encouragement everyone! I got all of his accessories and packaging together and started him up for one last goodbye. :( I will be shipping him back on Saturday or Monday and am still planning to buy a new RB once I get my money back. Buying from Amazon again is really my only option, so hopefully I won't have to go through this all over again with the new Pleo... At this point I'm just regretting ever selling my first RB who I owned a couple years ago.
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Unfortunately Pleo's are very complicated machines and sometimes just one part failure can cause a big problem :( odds are on your side though, most Pleo's are just fine :)
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I just sent him back and will be buying a replacement for him shortly. I'm hoping for another boy, but I'll still be happy with any working Pleo. I'll start a new topic once the new RB arrives.
Edit:
I just checked Amazon and it turns out that RBs are no longer sold through Amazon Fulfillment Services and only straight from Semsons (using Amazon to order them though). That just means if I buy another, it will be under Semsons' return policy which follows different rules than Amazon's (there's a 15% restocking fee for any returned items and you have to pay return shipping). I think I'm exempt from the restocking fee if I do a straight swap for another RB, but I'll have to look into it. This would only really be a concern though if the new Pleo breaks as well which isn't very likely.