Too loud

Like the other FurReal toys, my main problem with Zandi is the sound and movement features. Zandi doesn't actually have any mechanical movement features, only sounds and for that reason (and many others I'll mention) I feel like she is definitely a bit overpriced. Her simplicity was actually more popular with the kids than Ricky's (The Furreal dog) complexity, but I've seen toys with similar features have a much fairer price.

My main problem with her was the sound she makes. Maybe it's just my ears, but to me, she is so loud. Like much louder than she needs to be in a way that makes me wince. Her monkey noises are cute, but really hurt my ears and make me tempted to take out the batteries. They are far too loud and shrill and will hurt you if you have sensitive ears.

She also shares the classic Furreal problem in that she doesn't really 'react' as much to what you do. Pressing the heart will cause a reaction, but they include an ear thermometer that evokes no reaction. I expected that when they held the thermometer to her ear it would trigger a sound or something, but no. The rest of the time she just makes random disconnected monkey noises. She also goes to sleep far too fast, within a few seconds of putting her down she starts to make sleep noises, which adds to the unrealistic feeling.

Overall, she's a really cute design and kids who enjoy Fur-real will enjoy her, but given the price and the problems I had with her, I feel my rating is fair.

-----------------
Cute Factor
-----------------
In terms of looks, Zandi is very, very cute and both younger and older kids adore her looks. As an adult, I find it a bit creepy and wish they'd put some stuffing in her arms as they are 'empty' and when compared to the hard plastic hands it just feels and looks weird. She is slightly poseable in that her legs can be moved, but her arms aren't jointed at all.

Her little mohawk hair fluff and big eyes are particularly cute and the eyes are realistic and glassy. Her fur is lovely and soft, but unfortunately, because her head and hands are such hard plastic, it makes cuddling not so comfortable and only really possible in one position.

-----------------
Features
-----------------
Heartbeat/Stethoscope: This was a highlight for us and the kids who played with her. Her heartbeat is not overly loud or painful on the ears (unlike her noises), it's almost musical. Kids love using the stethoscope to 'hear' her heart, but they also like to use it for other play as well. Basically, if you don't have stethoscope already, this will become the default doc/vet one for play.

Her eyes close when you tilt her back. One thing that was a little confusing is the manual says to tilt her head to make the eyes close, everyone who tried this tried to move the head to the side. Eventually, we realised that it's tilting her head back that does it, so they should be clearer about that in the manual. However, it is very sweet when they hold her like a baby, leaned back and her eyes close.

Noises - I already talked about the noises above. We rarely hear Zandi cough and as I mentioned above the noises are too loud and kind of annoying. She'd be cuter if they were softer and not as constant.

That's it, Zandi actually doesn't do that much and is a very simple toy for the price.

-----------------
Set-up
-----------------
Since she comes with batteries, there's not much to do with setup, but she really is kind of a nightmare to get out of the box. Maybe ten minutes, but be careful not to cut yourself on the plastic pieces. Because she's arranged for people to 'try' for a store environment, it's a lot more troublesome to get her out of the packaging and as always, I recommend a pair of pet or people nail clippers to cut the many ties and get Zandi out with the least trouble.

Comes with Thermometer, Stethoscope and Zandi herself. Ages 4+

---------------
SUMMARY
---------------
Pros
+ Cute Design.
+ Glassy realistic eyes.
+ Stethoscope and heartbeat features are very enjoyable for young and older kids!
+ Comes with batteries.

Cons
- Noises are annoying and far too loud/painful on the ears.
- Packaging is annoying and not easy to get Zandi out.
- Doesn't do much.
- Arms not being padded looks and feels odd.
- Hard plastic is not very cuddly.


Recommended: No. For me I can't recommend it because of the sounds being so loud. However, if you have a child who loves Furreal or a noisy household, perhaps. I would wait for a sale though.