Is the voice garbled? Yes. Do kids care? NO!
585722
So in the existing reviews of this toy, Im noticing the common thread that Stinky is not understandable. And that is indeed the case. About all that weve been able to clearly decipher coming from him is Hey, watch it back there when messing with this toys back endsuper cute, right? Ive uploaded a video so you can hear how he talks for yourself.

That issue established, my three-year-old nephew LOVED Stinky. He couldn't wait to try him out with his Matchbox cars and watch him eat them. Stinky talks, he lights up, he moves. What isn't to love? From an adult perspective, sure, maybe there is a lot to complain about with Stinky. From a childs? Zip, zero, NADA. Methinks we expect a leeeeetle too much from toys these days. Relax. Be a kid. Have fun!
327065
Everything is great if I had to change or updated anything it would be the mike's if you could increase the output of the kids voice so it can be heard better and not so weak that would be great. As of now you have to put your mouth practily on it witch causes the kids to make sounds instead of singing.
1690923
This is supposed to be from a child's perspective but since it was written by an adult it comes across as somewhat fake. My 8yr old with Aperger's read it and complained that "kids don't talk that way". If you can't impress an 8yr old you aren't going to impress adults or professionals.
670968
this is a rubber toy, not soft, and the voice is grating and artificial.  The one you're looking for is probably "Tumblin Stuart"
1976237
I was rather disappointed with this toy myself, but I got to admit my daughter is having lots of fun with it.

It is supposed to teach the ABC's and shapes, but there are only the three A,B and C buttons, with three shapes. If you press the A button the voice says "A" but then if you press the B button right away it does not say "B" but plays a little music jingle instead and you have to press the B button a second time to hear it say "B". Predictably kids are going to press these buttons rapid fire like A-B-C-B-B-A-C-A etc. and I want the voice to keep up with that reliably. I have noticed the same stupid flaw in other toys we own, where they sacrifice the quick and precise teaching function in favor of putting a little musical jingle after the pronunciation of each letter or number.

Another problem is that the power switch offers 2 modes, but has such a short movement and poor labeling that it is easy to either overlook or just overshoot the center position and not get into that mode very often. Young uncoordinated fingers need distinct switch positions with movements they can see and clicks they can feel.

I do not like the voice either. Some of the simple sentences like "The round cookie is tasty" or whatever are not spoken in a smooth continuous voice, but almost seem to be assembled from separate words differing a bit in tone and volume. I guess it is not quite as bad as the computerized phone messages you sometimes hear... maybe they are just trying to emphasize each word separately... but it sounds halting and un-natural to me.

The included knife is really goofy... of course it cannot actually be sharp, but this one is like a hollow shell which only even looks like a cartoon version of a knife if viewed from one side. A child's imagination has to be pretty forgiving once they actually pick it up with their hand. And the sticker on the roller gizmo was peeling off... I saw that and pressed it down firmly before the adhesive got contaminated from use, but I'm not sure if it will peel up again over time or was just never pressed down properly to begin with. Also the recommended age range of up to 3 years old is too high, I think. Our daughter is 2.5 years old and pretty well knows the whole alphabet plus many shapes, and is working on numbers over 10, so while she does want to play kitchen and is enjoying the toy, the learning features are way obsolete for her.
1380416
Microphone has very loud squealing high pitched feedback that is continuous whenever it is on.

Basically, this is worse than useless.  The best you can do is take the batteries out and let the kids use it as a prop.  Otherwise, they occasionally hit the button and create a blaring feedback noise.

This thing absolutely sucks!
828647
Sometimes the sounds goes off by itself! just a warning for parents out there.
2136693
Great concept. The voice used to record the stories is not soothing...at all. The audio quality is also poor. It's very convenient to have music, story, lit, and clock together. My son doesn't seem to mind the voice, so I'm satisfied. I would hope that the company addresses this for any future story recordings.
4546646
Super frustrating. It really struggles to understand human voices. Instead of inspiring my daughter's reading, it's just frustrating. It doesn't work much better for us adults either, and we're all native English speakers from the midwest with no accents.
2698976
My son really enjoys Smart e-Bear. He cracked up when it said his name. He doesn't play with it all the time but he's still young yet and I expect it'll be used more often in the coming months.

My problem is its voice. We find the bear's voice to be reallly annoying.

Luckily most of the content is from outside sources and there's a volume control or I think we'd have chucked the bear within a month of buying it. If you wike to tawk widdo baybee tawk to yo chidwen you might wike it, but that kind of thing just makes our teeth hurt.

So yeah.. it's okay overall, I just wish the programming options included some alternate voice choices!
549925
My children were given this for Christmas. First of all, the sound on it is so low that I have to turn the volume up to almost full blast just to hear it at a decent level. Then I have to remember to lower the volume after I turn it off so we're not surprised by the high volume when we watch something else. Second, it's not meant for tv's larger than 27 inches so if you have a tv with a larger screen it looks terrible. For really young kids it doesn't matter as much but it usually only entertains them for a short time. The volume is enough of an issue to prevent me from recommending it. Also, if you're looking for something educational, look for something else. If the volume issue was corrected and had characters the kids knew (e.g. Dora, Mickey Mouse etc.) the kids would probably enjoy it more.
4523067
The children have to hold the button in continuously to hear.  If watching a movie it is not fun to have to push a button in for 1 1/2 hours.  I do not recommend this.  I finally taped the button in so they could use it.
652600
The sound and voice in this toy is totally obnoxious.  I would not recommend this to anyone. While your child might like it, I think you will have to turn it off in a matter of minutes!
2320899
My son enjoys it, it gives him a distraction from our remote. Which in the end is the important thing but I honestly hate the voice and sayings that emanate from this device. The whole point is to give him something to play with, but I am looking forward to putting this away when he grows tired of it.
115265
I hate it, but my daughter loves it, so I guess that's all that matters.  We have watched it so many time I fin my sel singing the god awful songs in my sleep.  I you have small kids they will love it, and it may teach them a thing or two.  Just make sure you buy ear plugs while your on her.  Trust me you will need them!
4710787
People don't always wanna hear the great things so I'm just going to tell you out there in Amazonland what I feel is wrong with this system:

1)Didn't come with batteries or the Adapter

Why they felt the need to not to have a power cord or included the Adapter to begin with is beyond me, especially for something used by children who will forget to turn things off, play with it non-stop, etc. At the very least they could have included some cheap batteries with it, so those opening it on Christmas Day could play with it.

2)Games are mislabeled agewise

Ages 4-6? We like to think that the child who uses this is of at least average intelligence. He knows his colors, letters, numbers, etc. but some of these games were just over his head. Daddy had to show him how to do half the games and many of the activities required "coaching". More like Age 6. And I think some of the things should be explained. In one of the games it had something about odd and even numbers. It should explain what these are and THEN let them play to see if they get it.

3)Games are hard to take out and change

For the 4 year old who wants to switch games constantly it's always, "I want a new game now!!" yelled through the house. They're hard for me and Daddy to take out, more or less a 4 or 5 year old. I used to have a Super NES back in the day - all you had to do was lightly hit a button and it would pop out. Maybe they should try that instead of the yank it out method they have.

4)Sounds ARE garbled, as someone else mentioned

Our 4-year-old kept repeating this phrase and when asked where he heard it and what it meant he said, "I don't know, it's in my game." He repeated it several times and I finally figured it out and told him what it probably was. I thought maybe this was 4-year-old misunderstanding until I sat to watch him play and heard how cruddy the sound is when they are saying stuff.

All that said, he enjoys it and does find it fun. So I guess that's what counts, but some common sense in designing it would be nice too.
2547665
Basically you hear a sound effect then a man's voice repeats a word twice in a bored, droning, nasally tone.  A voice like HAL from 2001 A Space Odyssey.  They make it look so "fun" on the cover, with all the kids.  So, where are the kids?

The concept of the sound effects wasn't bad -- but, couldn't they use some children's voices, mix the words into some stories, anything?  I don't see how this could be considered "immersion."  Immersion implies being surrounded by natural language in a normal context!

If you think your kids might like a list concept like this, I would try it from your library first, to make sure they are not too bored.