I am considering these for the classroom. Are the components protected from burnout from kids hooking them up strangely? How easy are replacements?
1584189
They are not protected but all parts are replaceable at radio shack. It tells you in the instructions to only do the experiments in the order they tell you to to protect the components from burn out. Our 10 year old has had a lot of fun with it!
2010466
Being a teacher myself and knowing kids like I do I don't think these would hold up very long in that kind of setting. They are very cool to look at though.
1438624
They seem physically durable. However, they disconnected a lot, and had to be manually set up again each time as if for the first time. I returned mine thinking they were defective, but the replacements had the same problem.
296567
My K/1 kids use them everyday in my classroom. However, be warned, some of them were dried-out when I got them. I don't know what the "shelf-life" is with their products.
847632
Hi Bud,if it's for a pretty large classroom, I wouldn't recommend them, unless the students can keep really quiet.Besides, though they are called wireless, they are wirelessly connected to the computer, but not between them. There actually a short wire that connects the speakers, that would make it difficult to place them in different corners of the classroom.I use them for my desk, so for me they are more than ok, but the sound they make is not impressive anyway.You can check under the technical description of the product.I hope this helps.All the best,Lucy Hi Bud,if it's for a pretty large classroom, I wouldn't recommend them, unless the students can keep really quiet.Besides, though they are called wireless, they are wirelessly connected to the computer, but not between them. There actually a short wire that connects the speakers, that would make it difficult to place them in different corners of the classroom.I use them for my desk, so for me they are more than ok, but the sound they make is not impressive anyway.You can check under the technical description of the product.I hope this helps.All the... » Read More Hi Bud,if it's for a pretty large classroom, I wouldn't recommend them, unless the students can keep really quiet.Besides, though they are called wireless, they are wirelessly connected to the computer, but not between them. There actually a short wire that connects the speakers, that would make it difficult to place them in different corners of the classroom.I use them for my desk, so for me they are more than ok, but the sound they make is not impressive anyway.You can check under the technical description of the product.I hope this helps.All the best,Lucy « Show Less
198193
If you're good to your electronics then you shouldn't have an issue. The frame is a flexible plastic and could probably be broke intentionally fairly easy but if you're not just tossing them around or mistreating them they should last. I've had mine for quite a while with no problems.
2105562
I have had this sharpener a few months. A student allowed it to fall off the table, and it broke the cover. The cover is needed to activate the safety button. If I use something to push the safety lever in, I can still use it with cover off. Obviously, not a good idea to let students use it with no safety. Before they ultimately destroyed it, they tried stuffing erasers and crayons in it. It survived that. I like it better than the bosch quiet (blue) sharpener.
790698
I haven't taken it apart yet. They are most likely hardwired/soldered to the display unit. Unless it is a small dual conductor plug & socket internal. I will be doing the same though to lengthen the cords. But I can tell you from my experience, that you would most certainly be able to lengthen the cable either way. It seems to be a quality unit overall aside from the shorter cables. Either by splicing or by replacing the the wire entirely and resoldering to the circuit card & probe. If I had to guess, I'd say its a 18 gauge coaxial cable. To prevent any signal degradation though, resoldering a new cable would be best. If done properly though a splice would work just fine. You would have to match conductor material & splice material (I.e. good solder, proper methods with flux etc. , butt splice or lap splice made of similar materials etc.). If you have a digital multimeter just redo the splice until you have less or at least match the resistance that it had originally. Also when you alter the wire length, you have to keep in mind that voltage drops over long distances. So it can't be too long, since its a small battery. Hope I helped. Good luck :0)
481861
My guess would be yes, these have been holding up well for me. I use them for teachers on a weekly basis and have used them for 6 months now and they are all still in working order.
847817
I'm not sure i don't advise these though. I've bought two sets and they burnt out within days and they wouldn't reimburse me or even send me new ones. I'd go to superbrightleds.com they cost a little more but so worth it.
568851
They dont run hot but the filament breaks when lite falls on floor. they are to fragile. in my line of work i always carry a spare. never had one on long enough to judge the life. i would go led over this type.
617315
I can't say, because they always BROKE first! Seriously. I had TWO of these in my classroom in the past year, and both broke before the lamp burned out. Granted, they were used a good deal, but this was ridiculous!
1785260
Hi all I know is my son thats 15 years old got these for Christmas 2013 and they are still working and he loves them and uses them everyday. He is not the best at taking care of things so i would think that they dont break to easy. Hope this helps.
120168
I have had no problems with mine, of any kind. My grandchildren use them all the time.
1140264
I didn't know till I got them that they were only single pronged. I've had them for 4 months now, each holds about 15-20 clear sheet protectors each for my uses with a choir. They don't see much use/abuse and have been holding up just fine. Only one did get water on it and it warped it a tiny bit was well as faded the black color in a small area. If you foresee your 5th graders being rough and abusive with them then they may not last, but otherwise they have been the perfect thing for me. I hope that helps.
557194
I would say yes they are a great item for that age group just be sure to order an extra or two one of ours broke with in min or had a hole in it from the begining, but we still have a few around the house that have been going strong for a few months now so I think it may have just been a fluke with that one but be sure to have an extra one or two just in case as preschoolers are not going to understand it if they got the one in a hundred that is junk and there is no replacement.
1847728
From everything I have read it's normal. Keep the speakers well ventilated (Ie, dont keep them in a crowded space) and don't keep loose papers near them. My MacBook Pro runs hotter than these speakers. Some electronics run hot and it's not necessarily indicative of any defect.