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28 of 31 found the following review helpful:
Eh, Not Bad, Not GreatFeb 08, 2010
By goonius
The Hexbug Ant isn't a bad miniaturized robotic creature; once you get one that works, that is. Our first one went backwards, but refused to go forward, so got stuck a great deal. Fortunately I ordered from one of the sellers currently offering this toy through Amazon, Fat Brain Toys, and they have fantastic customer service, so another was dispatched immediately and arrived pretty quickly. The second one worked as advertised.
The properly-working Ant has front and rear sensors that alert it anytime it encounters an obstacle, reversing its direction so it will keep going. There is a little switch on the rear of the Ant to switch it on, and once on it is in constant motion until you manage to catch it; it is quite fast. The Ant is powered by six rapidly spinning three-prong wheels; three on either side as you'd expect from an arthropod. The leg/wheels are joined up to one another by small gears, and the one huge annoyance with the Ant is that the leg/wheels and accompanying gears like to pick up every little bit of dust and pet hair on your floor. Ultimately a little dust bunny is all it takes to bring this little creature to a halt. You then have to pick it up, switch it off, disentangle the pet hair and fluff that it picked up from - say - underneath the dresser, and give it another go. I thought I had a clean house until I invited this little critter into it, and I'm rather insulted by all the fluff he's finding under our furniture. Where does he keep finding all these dust bunnies? I vacuumed like two days ago...
Of course, an easy fix for this would be using some blocks to set up an obstacle course for it, not allowing it to find all the hidden dust bunnies under furniture, or maybe you're fortunate enough to own a Roomba or something that gets all those hard to reach places that the Ant finds and gets gunked up in.
If you can keep the Ant from critiquing your housekeeping skills by getting locked up every time it ducks under a piece of furniture, it's a pretty cute little toy, especially for the price. I like the transparent casing and the overall style of it. The speed is pretty entertaining, and I can see the cat getting a kick out of it... and then dealing it the final blow with a big puffy hairball.
I don't know that I'd buy it again, all things considered. If I'd known about the pet hair/dust bunny issue I might have sprung for a pricier slow-mover like the crab who also seems to have better clearance from the ground.
12 of 13 found the following review helpful:
A nice robotic toy for a starter.Dec 27, 2009
By Nuknuk
This toy bug robotic ant runs fast. Catching it is a challenge, so be careful where you let it go. Uses two button batteries. The switch is at the back. Unlike the Hex nano, the ant can run on carpets. It has six legs or wheels (whichever you want to call them).
Compared to the nano, the ant cannot flip back to its feet if it happens to flip upside down. It also is more likely to get entangled on wires or strings.
A nice robotic toy for a starter.
7 of 7 found the following review helpful:
 Fast, Attention-Grabbing ToyJul 23, 2010
By phx_kc
"KC"
Bought this as a gift for a 5 year-old nephew. He loved it. Goes super-fast, changes direction easily at the slightest obstacle, and was simple to use right out of the box. Not sure on durability, but for the price, even if it only lasts a week, it was money well spent.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
 Speedy little bug.Jan 23, 2011
By Anja Rebekka Schultze
This robot bug's gimmick is that it is fast, and it is, turn it on and release it on your floor and is skids around there like a maniac, it will change direction when it hits a wall, or anything else, it had front and rear sensors and it can actually be a bit of a challenge to catch as is rush around your floor scaring cats and other pets. The toy is fun, however except for the front and rear sensors it is not that much to separate it from the typical wind up toy which you can make run across your floor.
Once you start this toy up those wheels start churning around like mad, it might look unsafe however because I am an idiot I have tried to stick my finger in the wheels as they run and they just stop, the toy is completely safe, the build quality however leave something to be desired. The toy is rather sturdy when it comes to hitting things it runs into and such, however those wheels pick up everything on the floor. I have long hair, and I have a cat, and usually unless I clean the floors right before using this toy then after a few seconds I will have a ten minutes joytime with tweezers and pliers trying to untangle hairs from the wheels so that it will run again. I can imagine that if you are a parent and give this robot to your young and promising one you will experience some frustration every time something get stuck in the wheels and you have to play robot doctor to make the toy run again.
All in all I can not really complain about this toy, it is fun and colorful, it is not that expensive and if someone like robots they might like this. However I would say this is the least fun robot from Hexbug, unless you are a Hexbug fanatic like me who just have to have every robot they produce I think one of the other models will give you more enjoyment for your money.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
My kids love it!Jun 25, 2010
By Becky Johnson
"Ms. Becky"
I have a 5 and 6 year old who absolutely love these things! They seem pretty sturdy too. I highly recommend.
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