Anyone out there with a child having a hard time learning to ride a bike?

     Our son spent almost a year and a half bouncing from one training wheel to the next.  He just never could keep the bike up.  We tried all kinds of things, but nothing seemed to work.  Then we found out about balance bikes.  Some research later and I had narrowed it down to either the Trek Float or the GlideBikes GoGlider.  The main reason I settled on the GoGlider was price.  We do mainly mountain biking and the Trek Float just did not seem like it would be a good mountain bike for a kid.  So, I would have had to buy the Trek Float and then a good Mountain Bike for the kid.  With the GoGlider I would still need to buy a Mountain Bike for Joshua, but atleast the GoGlider was considerably less then the Trek Float – and it comes in a small and large size.

     I started looking for dealers in the DFW area and came across only two.  The Owl’s Nest Toy Store in the Southlake Town Square had one of the large GoGliders left in stock, and it was red (Joshua’s favorite color.)  The other store, well, they didn’t answer their phone – their loss.

     What we thought would be one quick trip, turned into over an hour spent inside the store.  If you have children you would love this store.  They have all kinds of great educational toys for children, and tons of European toys that are hard to find here in the States.  Eventually we pried ourselves away from the store and made it home with our new GoGlider.  Then we headed for the school’s parking lot:

     We ended up giving up due to the wind and cold.  It was in the 30’s with 20mph wind.  Joshua just could not handle it and we headed home.

     Monday after school was different, the weather was in the 70’s and the wind was manageable.  Joshua started off pushing himself along up and down my parent’s street.  After about 10 minutes of this he decided to try a little downhill.  One of the driveways on the street has a decent slope on it.  The house is currently vacant, so he would walk the glider up the driveway and then glide down.  After a few minutes he was resting one foot on the foot pegs and pushing along with one foot.  We stopped after about 15 minutes of this.  (About 30 minutes total on Monday.)

     Tuesday started off where we left on Monday.  Joshua would use both feet to push the glider bike up the driveway, and then coast down it with one foot on the pegs.  After about 10 minutes he was coasting down the driveway with both feet on the pegs.  10 minutes later and he was turning at the end of the driveway and continueing down the street.  Soon he was even turning around in the street and heading back to the driveway.  Another few minutes or so and he was turning up the street, coasting some, and then turning circles.  (About 25 minutes total on Tuesday.)

     At this point we drove home to break out the bike (minus the training wheels.)  He could now hold his balance while I held on to him.  A couple of tries of pedalling up the street with me holding on and he was ready to quit for the day.

     Wednesday through Friday continued with just a few minutes a day of me holding on while he pedalled up and down the street.  Saturday he was able to go a short distance with me jogging beside him, about the length of our yard.  He was still unsure of himself and scared to let me let go.  Everytime he felt me let go he would slam on the brakes and stop.

     We did not get any time to practice on Sunday, Monday we worked for about 10 minutes, and then nothing on Tuesday through Thursday.  Friday we were out at Cedar Hill State Park, our family’s Easter Camp Out.  He was now willing to try without me holding on, the first time I let go he just took off.  He could all ready do it, he just was not quite ready to, he was now ready.  That day he rode as much as he could.  He still needs someone to hold the seat while he gets his feet on the pedals and then push a little as he starts to pedal off.  The next step is learning to start on his own, and then how to work the shifter… 

     So, these things work wonders.  The only problem I have with them is no one just rents them.  We used it for a few hours and now the thing will sit in the garage waiting for our newborn to be old enough to use it.  You really should be able to just rent it for a week and then return it.  Or maybe a local bike shop needs to have a Glider day class or something. $20 per child, two or three days at 30 minutes a day.  Afterwards the $20 goes towards purchase of child’s bike and helmet.

     I could not recomend this thing any higher.  From what I found this glider\balance bike had the best of what I was looking for, but there are several options out there, and they will all probably work very similarly.  What I liked about this one vs the others were:

PRO’s:

1.) American company with Lifetime Warranty

2.) The Foot pegs.  This gets the kid used to being in a position similar to how they would sit while pedalling.  On other balance bikes the kids just lift their feet off the ground and hold them up.

CON’s:

NONE!

So, if you have a child that is struggling with learning to ride, contact me, I will rent you a GoGlider.

Ok, so I have plenty of Ryobi’s 18v One+ Tools, and I recently saw this at Home Depot while browsing through the new Tek4 display. I bought this camera not for me, but for my 5 year old son. You see he loves taking pictures.

For his fourth birthday I bought him the cheapest digital camera I could find at Best Buy. It was a little black and green 4.0mp (I think) camera. He likes to be able to look at the back of the camera and see what he is shooting, like most point and shoots. The problem is that none of the kid camera’s do this, the Fisher Price’s, etc., all have viewfinders that they expect the kid’s to look through.

His first camera from Best Buy was taken every where, but he hardly used it. The problem was the menu system was impossible for a 4 year old to use, and the flash was incredibly bright. I had taped some paper over the flash in order to dim it some. Every time the camera was turned on the flash was off, and you could not change this setting. We went camping one weekend and it started raining on us as we were packing up. His camera was thrown into the camping supplies and ended up missing. It was found a couple of months later in the garage, but would no longer even power on.

His second camera was a Wal-Mart special. It was horrible even for me to use. The buttons were tiny, the menu was confusing, etc. When the AA’s that came with the camera died, the camera died. New batteries, but the camera would not turn on.

So, that’s when I saw the Durashot at Home Depot. I bought it, and the Tek4 flashlight to take advantage of a coupon they had at the Tek4 stand to get the free double charger. This camera has been great for my son.

He carries it everywhere, and actually uses it. Some days while at home he will break it out and just play with it. The buttons on the back:

Are huge, rubberized, and clearly labelled. My 5 year old has been able to figure out how to use all of the features of the camera. He can use the timer mode to take self portraits, or what he likes to do is set the camera on a table and set the timer then go and hug his dog and take a picture of him and his dog. He uses the time lapse mode to take pictures of himself while he is playing games, playing with his dog, or just watching tv. He has even figured out how to put it into video mode and take video’s. One of the other features he really likes, after he figured out how to look at the pictures he has taken, is recording a voice memo for some of the pictures.

The pictures are decent. They with the digital zoom turned off, they look about like any ordinary 8mp. The part where the image quality suffers is the shutter speed ( I will explain below.)

Now for the negatives.

The flash, like most of the cheaper cameras, is insanely bright. I tried taping paper over it like I had on my son’s last two cameras, but the paper started burning! After a few flashes and the paper was smoking and was singed. This flash is not only bright but hot.

Without the flash the shutter speed is not fast enough. When taking pictures outside, or even inside sometimes, the flash is not needed. The problem is without the flash not even I can hold this camera still enough to not induce camera shake on the pictures. They come out just slightly blurry, almost but not quite as if the camera was not in focus. Those more familiar with digital cameras would know what I mean. Even if sitting on a table, or a tripod, fast moving objects come out with motion blur. I tried sitting in one place in our living room, taking pictures of the same object over and over and over. The only thing I changed were the ISO speeds. I tried every setting, but without the flash I could not hold the camera still enough to get a good picture. The problem was, with the flash the picture was washed out, way too bright. I had registerd this camera on Ryobi’s website and opened a support ticket regarding it. I stated in the ticket that I was taking pictures of the same object, under controlled lighting, and all I was adjusting was the ISO setting; and I could not get a non-blurry picture without a tripod. I asked if there was a way to adjust the shutter speed independent of the ISO setting and flash. The response I got back was, have you tried changing the ISO setting in the menu? I was about floored. So, I kindly replied that I had, and asked the same question again. I was told that no you could not. So, I asked about firmware updates, the guy simply replied that if the camera was not functioning properly I could take it back. He did not even answer my question directly.

So, for a professional that needs a good camera this may\may not work. It depends on if you can deal with the washed out pictures from the bright flash.

Pros:

1.) Very sturdy build. The rubberizing, extra shock proofing, etc. really make this a durable camera.
2.) Price. $200 may seem expensive for only an 8mp, but it really is comparable to other decent (non Wal-Mart or blue bin specials) on the market.
3.) Menu and buttons are very easy to navigate and use. So easy in fact that my 5 year old has figured out all of the advanced features and can do everything except adjust the ISO.
4.) Water proof to 1m. I have not tested this, but I read a review elsewhere that the reviewers took a few under-water pictures and bounced the camera off the floor of the pool.
5.) Batteries. The Tek4 batteries are nice. I got the boxed set of Tek4 tools for Christmas and now have 4 batteries. The fact that his Camera uses the same batteries means I always have a charged one sitting around. If this were my camera and not my son’s it would be a nice addition to the tool kit.

Cons:

1.) Flash. WAY too bright. WAY too hot. I don’t think this is fixable, even with a firmware update, and it would not be an issue if I could take decent pictures without the flash – see Con #2.
2.) Shutter Speed. The ISO adjustments seem to almost do nothing. I was testing by taking pictures of the couch in my living room. Even at ISO 1600 I got self induced camera shake. I don’t have the steadiest hands in the world, but they are steady enough to let me take One to Two second exposures on my Canon Digital Rebel with no camera shake (I guess the extra weight helps.) However, on this Durashot I just simply can not hold it still enough to get a good shot. My son has to leave the flash on, even outside to get a good picture. This I am sure could be fixed with a simple firmware update to allow shutter speed or arpeture changes seperate from the flash. Maybe just introduce a real simple, fast shutter speed setting. Something that sets the shutter speed to the same as with the Flash on, or faster.

Recommendations for the camera:

Professionals that don’t need a stellar picture, but do need a camera that will take some abuse. My in-laws are Home Inspectors, and I believe this camera would probably fit right up their alley. Especially with the batteries being used in the other tools. They all carry flashlights, digital cameras, infrared thermometers, powered screwdrivers, among other tools. The Tek4 line does suite this perfectly, and the Durashot takes good pictures, and is extremely durable.

Kids. I know, a $200 camera for kids. But the way I look at it is this: the Best Buy camera had a 30 day return policy, same with the Wal-Mart special. They both lasted over 45 days; just not much longer then that. I had all ready spent over $200 in cameras for the kid, and all of the “Kid’s” cameras had the following problems:

Viewfinders instead of Live View.
Were all made of plastic and looked cheap.
Were HUGE, no the Durashot is not small, but go take a look at Fisher Price’s kids cameras…
Did not have any nice or advanced features.
Were not waterproof, shock proof, dust proof, etc…

This is a $200 camera with a 2 year warranty that Ryobi and Home Depot expect to be used on job sites, etc, by ‘men’ that are not easy going on their tools. The first time my son dropped this camera and it bounced across the floor without even scratching or denting itself I knew he was not going to be able to destroy this thing. The only piece I worry about is the plastic piece on the end of the steel barrel surround the lense. This piece may get scratched up over time. Maybe Ryobi should make this piece screw off, or offer replacements for it.

Overall I would have to give this Camera a 4 out of 5 stars. If Ryobi can release a firmware update and resolve the shutter speed issue this thing would get a 6 out of 5 stars.

(If they do this before they descide to discontinue it or only have it available over seas like all the really good 18v One+ tools…)