Yoto player

[Qwerty21]

Can anyone give me some advice on these please?.I'm considering one for my preschooler. My eldest had a Tonie but barely used it, so I'm concerned about wasting my money on a yoto. Are they any good? Are they better or the same as a tonnie?
Thanks in advance

DS has had one since he was 2.5 it gets used every day and he's six soon. He listens to the daily podcast most days and every night he reads to us, then we read to him then he gets 30 mins of a Yoto story (usually asleep before the 30 minutes is up) it's been on various holidays with us and we use the app to listen to audio books in the car. So well with it for us.
However we are not really a TV house , it goes on if someone wants to watch something in particular, I know lots of people just have TV on in the background. I think if we did this the Yoto would get used less, last weekend DS built a massive brio railway/world and had the Yoto on while he was playing, but the TV wasn't on so it depends on your preferences I think

Thank you

We have a Yoto here. I would 100% recommend. My 9yo has the normal one and my 6yo has the mini. They are so easy to use and they have them on every night for bed. We take them on holiday every year. There is a big range of stories for all ages. I joined the yoto club and pay monthly but save the free cards for birthdays/ Christmas/ new cards for holidays. We've also just had an issue with the charger for our 2nd gen player and when I contacted Yoto they couldn't replace the charger so swapped the whole player for a 3rd gen! Amazing customer service.

Highly recommend. They grow with the child, if you see what I mean, rather than Tonies which are more limiter/for younger children.

DD is nearly 7, has had hers since she was about two and listens to it every night.

Also highly recommend. My nearly 9yo has had his since his third birthday. It is used daily and travels with us. His sister has a mini which is better for travel. The choice of stories grows each month and develops with age too.

Am also thinking of a yoto for my 4 and 2 year olds for Christmas. Would people recommend the yoto player or mini?

Yoto are amazing. I have a big one. I'm getting the mini for car at christmas

I’m also considering a Yoto - are they ever on offer anywhere and/or have a Black Friday offer?

Sorry to hijack but we have the Tonie which my just turned four year old loves, at what age would people recommend moving on to the yoto?

My nearly 8yo has had his for two years and listens to it every night to fall asleep, and also when he has a bath. Definitely getting my money’s worth !

My DS5 has a Yoto and DD2 has a Tonie. It seems to me the Yoto is much more versatile. It has the clock and radio features and the range of cards is much wider. DS for example isn't really into stories but he loves space so he has cards about all the planets. The Tonie characters are cute but I think the novelty will wear off soon.

My 4yo and 2yo both have Yoto mini's. It's used almost constantly on long car journeys by the 4yo, although he doesn't get an iPad/screen in the car. Often listens to it while playing too. The 2yo more used it to hear noises, like the animal card, and plays directly with it.

We also have an original but think overall the mini is better. I think the original is good if you want it to be a bit of a feature in their bedroom for example and use the nightlight etc. and the mini is better for travel and being generally portable.

Watching as I’m planning a Yoto for DS 2.5 this Christmas, keen to know if anyone has seen deals for them on Black Friday etc previously?

We have 2 that are still used daily by DC aged 12 and 10. I mostly use MYO though and change them every season.

I've always wondered if I'm missing something with these. Isn't it basically just audio books, but more expensive than Audible/Spotify?

What is the advantage over a much cheaper smart speaker? E.g. We listen to audio books via Audible and spotify, on a variety of devices depending on which room we are in, but mainly a £30 echo dot in the bedroom which is also used as a music player. Is this better in some way?

@WickerMam The big advantage for young kids is that they have some control - they can choose cards and pick stories or turn on yoto radio, but there is very limited connectivity from the speaker itself. There’s no screen, no way to surf the internet, no microphone. You can control it all from your own telephone and set time limits and morning alarms and dB limits, but as far as the kid is concerned they can’t use it to connect to the internet at all. If your kids are already old enough that you trust them to use devices like tablets or phones fairly independently then there isn’t any advantage to a yoto over audible and any old blue tooth speaker.

We got a Yoto for my DD when she was 3 and she’s 9 now and still has it. The stories have obviously changed over time but she still listens to the faraway tree and famous five most nights. She’s now moving onto Harry Potter so it definitely grows with the child. We started out with a first generation normal Yoto, but this needed replacing after 5 years so we now have a mini. I much prefer the mini and the sound is the same quality in my opinion. She takes it on long journeys in the car or holidays as well and Yoto radio is actually really good. It also comes out as a sound system when we have friends over for play dates.

Could have written this.

Sometimes I listen to yoto daily when the kids aren't even here 😂

Someone listed all the deals they've had in the past few years...somewhere on this site. I wish.id screenshotted it!! I couldn't tell you the details but the jist is there is usually some sort of black Friday deal on something yoto related. Might be the mini, might be bundles with headphones. Varies but if you can afford to wait it's worth taking a look.

Was so pleased with Yoto, and do use it every day and have done for the last 4 years now! BUT haven’t been impressed with their product safety issue. The yoto mini 2021-3 models have the potential to set on fire /burn users unless you use a specific yoto approved charging cable and you’re still not allowed to leave child unsupervised with it (which kind of defeats the object.). I feel extremely uncomfortable with their cable being a suitable solution, not least because if that cable gets lost / damaged you can’t use anything else for fear of burning your house down / harming your child. I asked for a replacement yoto unit and they’ve always flat refused and keep stating that their solution is sufficient but we keep getting customer emails warning us of the risks. Just feels like a real mistake that the company wouldn’t just replace the units for non faulty ones as although an initial cost for them, I bet they don’t cost much to manufacture and the real money for them is made in the card sales. Anyway the whole interaction just really dented me faith in the company and I feel pretty disappointed and reluctant to spend more with them, which is a shame as we have maybe 50 cards .

Yes

Thanks so much guys

Yoto was in the amazon prime sale yesterday just fyi! Not sure if it's still on.