Bought this for our 4 year old son who saw it on an infomercial. I wish I bought it from amazon cause I paid a lot more for shipping. (I also had to pay an extra 6 dollars in shipping added to regular shipping price to get it within two weeks for xmas) Now that my neice and nephew (8 & 10years) saw it they want it for their b-days in febuary. I will definately get them from amazon because it's cheaper here. Anyways the product is pretty cool. It shoots pretty far and you don't have fishing line issues that you have with regular fishing rods. It will definately be more excited to fish with Dad this summer. It's very easy to handle that my 4 year old can do it by himself and its cool enough that even a 10 year old enjoys it and wants it. 5 stars

Don't buy it. I bought it for my 7-yr-old son. I'm going to return mine after taking it out for the first time. It only casted out a couple times and then started tangling fish line inside, line kept breaking when casting and all kind of fishing line problem. It's impossible to fix. I spent more time trying to fix the casting and fishing line than to actually do fishing. Old fashion fishing rod seems so make sense after all. 1 star

I bought this for my son who is 4. He loves it and can operate it whith out any help. Good quality and can take alot of abuse, 5 stars

I have taught fishing at a camp for kids 20+ years, and have seen many children delight in the mastery of their fishing techniques. Nothing like observing a child catch their first fish all on their own, it truly is something they will remember for their lifetime! I recently had a 2nd grader show up with this rod, and witnessed only frustration and disappointment. (The safety of this rod while fishing with a group truly came into question too, but that is another issue.) Secondly, why reduce your child's ability to master small and large motor skills by 'copping out' from buying the traditional rod? Take it from my experience, buy your child a traditional rod and closed-faced reel by Zebco or Shakespeare (lots less expensive) and take the time to help them develop the motor skills to master the art of fishing. They will feel so much more accomplished when they've experienced a good cast and caught a fish all by themselves then cheating with this tragic invention. 1 star

I wonder how many people actually catch fish with this rod. We bought two of these at 30 bucks a pop. We have twin sons and they were so excited to use these. They shoot fine (about 15 feet...not 30) but the problem is with the capsule (bobber) that holds your bait. It tends to not release the hook that holds the bait. You aren't gonna catch much of anything if your hook is still inside the bobber. I was discussing the rod with a friend and she said her daughters did the same thing. Its a great idea, but it just doesn't work for some reason. I think we will be returning these and getting them a plain old fishing rod. We were out for over 2 hours and no bites. Maybe because they didn't have anything to bite into. 2 stars