VersaMe Starling

I have three kids, and this is our second Starling for our youngest daughter. We’ve really loved having it as our babies have grown up. When we first got it, I was really amazed how much variation there was in how many words they heard per day. I didn’t expect to like the Starling as much as I did- it’s just a great motivator every day to stay on track and talk a ton to my kids, and getting the daily activities through the app is super helpful… When I check the score in the afternoon and see that I’m nowhere close to my word goal, I make sure to step it up at dinner time or read an extra story before bedtime. We were worried at first that my kids would just rip the Starling off or start to cry when we put it on, but it really hasn’t been a big deal. My youngest kind of fussed with it for the first time we put it on her for about ten minutes, until she forgot about it and went back to playing.Overall, great product and great experience!

I got this device thinking it would be more than just a word counter. I saw it advertised in an app I was using to track my child’s growth and development, and thought it was something totally different.I bought it with the idea in mind that not only would it count how many words my child hears in a day, but also keep track of the words they hear the most. If the Starling did that, I’d feel like I would have gotten the most out of my money for what it was worth. I love the daily activities to help engage my child to learn a new word everyday, but I feel like $150+ for a word counter was extremely outrageous, and I could accomplish the same effect reading a story everyday to my kid and making it a point to continuously talk to them thruout the day without the extra cost.Out of all the frivolous things I’ve bought as a new parent, every time I look at my starling sitting in my side table drawer collecting dust, I regret this purchase the most.If you are a parent that doesn’t know how to teach new words to your kids through reading, fun activities, and word games everyday, wants to hit a “word number goal” not having any clue what words your kid is hearing, and have the money to blow on something you could probably program your Alexa device to do, by all means, get it! But frankly, it wasn’t worth it to me.

We bought this device to track words with our toddler. For several weeks, it worked great and we were rather excited at the end of the day to see whether we had made our goal or not. However, after several weeks, it suddenly stopped working (it was not charging) and as we were still within the 30 day Amazon return policy, we had it returned. We really wanted to give it another shot, so we went ahead and bought it again, assuming we just had stroke of bad luck and received a defective one. The second one we bought did not work at all. Or rather, it counted only about 10% of words spoken within 5 feet of the device. We had bought a warranty with the second purchase and so called the company and after troubleshooting unsuccessfully, we were instructed to return it to them and they would provide us a working device. We had to pay shipping costs and after a week, we received only a single piece of the device, not a replacement. We called the company again and waited another week for the rest of the parts. AGAIN, we ran into the same problem with the device only tracking about 10%. After attempting to troubleshoot the device with a company representative, and it still not working, it was explained to us that all the old models had to be updated and that we must have been receiving old models or something to that effect. We were again sent a replacement, this time, only the star part (that was the only part that the company said needed to be replaced this time). However, it was packaged poorly in a single envelope. Well, it didn't work and so we pretty much gave up at that point. It seems like a great idea but we were very disappointed with the product not working. The company seems to still be in its start up phase and just doesn't seem ready yet.

We have really enjoyed using our Starling for several weeks now. The product design is great--looks good in the nursery or even on a coffee table in the living room. Having it around is a great reminder to talk aloud to our baby. It doesn't have to be anything meaningful, even just describing your actions. Checking in on our word count throughout the day is a fun challenge for us. It really inspires you to always be communicating. The app interface is clean and works great. It was an easy setup and sync. The Starling app also sends you daily notifications with helpful developmental tips. One minor drawback is that you have to remember to have the Starling near you and the baby, which isn't always easy. Hopefully they will be adding some product features in the future, like also being able to use your phone when the Starling isn't handy. But thus far we have been beyond pleased with the purchase and it is a great reminder to always be communicating with your baby. Happy we can support a young company and hope to see more products in the future.