Pleo ready for US pre-order: $349 for your eventual destruction

Check it US Pleo hopefuls, UGOBE is now taking pre-orders for the hotly anticipated dinobot. The price? Well, it's not $250, or even $300 as we were originally told. Rather, the cuddly killer is now pegged at $349. Pre-orders can be executed directly from the UGOBE website or via the usual array of on-line retail partners. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait a few months before your Pleo can "inspire mystery and awe as a companion" -- it doesn't ship until October. Plenty of time to ponder the threat of inviting a robot and dinosaur into your home. Now head on over to Pleoworld for plenty of hot, groaning, dino-on-dino action.

[Thanks, Vladimiro]

Read -- Press Release [warning: PDF]
Read -- Pleoworld [warning: moaning robots, crank down the volume]

[strider_mt2k @ Jun 21st 2007 8:21AM]

How ironic that they're made from the very things that they are made to emulate.

Now if you bury a bunch of these, will they eventually break down into some new substance that can be exploited by future toy makers?

That's what I want to know.

[BoZs13 @ Jun 21st 2007 8:22AM]

ahahaha, that's so kick-ass

The moaning got me! I want one!

[Steve C @ Jun 21st 2007 8:30AM]

I dunno... This makes me hesitant to pay more than $20:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgiB90lJNSY

[William @ Jun 21st 2007 10:29AM]

Steve,
Ugobe responded to that video a while back. See: http://pleobot.com/2006/08/ugobe-talks-back-its-real-we-promise/

For their DEMO2006 presentation they had the prototype model do a predefined set of movements. Both videos were made for this presentation.

[tchiseen @ Jun 21st 2007 8:36AM]

I'm pretty sure they hired a pornographic movie star to do that things voice.

[Mile @ Jun 21st 2007 9:01AM]

Anyone else going to camp out for this? We could sit together.

[Je2037 @ Jun 21st 2007 10:11AM]

haha great title

[William @ Jun 21st 2007 10:27AM]

At least Ugobe is up front about the price increases. They say,
"Pleo's final price is $349. Higher than anticipated, we know! The change allows us to build in higher quality components and features such as a replaceable battery to ensure that you have a great owner experience"

I'm still debating on whether or not to sink $350 in yet.
http://pleobot.com

[Jean-Michel Decombe @ Jun 21st 2007 11:25AM]

Cool, I can camp out with my Pleo for the iPhone 2 launch in 2008!

[Robert Oschler @ Jun 21st 2007 11:26AM]

A caveat to international folk that try to buy a Pleo through the U.S. On the Pleo World web site it says the warranty is only valid for the United States:

http://www.pleoworld.com/support/faq?section=reg

This may be due to power issues due to the recharger but I can't say for sure.

Robert

[Fastman @ Jun 21st 2007 11:59AM]

I pre-ordered one. Betting I can sell it on Ebay for at least double when the holiday shopping season kicks up and they cant be found anywhere, i.e. Tickle Me Elmo.

[bike @ Jun 21st 2007 1:09PM]

Comes out in October...at Walmart and Target? Craze will be dead by day after Thanksgiving.

[Fastman @ Jun 21st 2007 1:42PM]

Tickle Me Elmo was sold at those stores too. They couldnt keep them in stock.

[Traveler @ Jun 21st 2007 12:08PM]

It seems like forever since I saw its appearance on video the first time.

[Constable Odo @ Jun 21st 2007 1:06PM]

I heard this little dino has a lot of sensors. What does he do when you touch his nether regions?

[Mile @ Jun 21st 2007 1:11PM]

Nether touf his private region!

[Diogenes @ Jun 21st 2007 1:24PM]

I just pre-ordered two "First Hatch" Pleos. As far as I'm concerned there is very little downside to the pre-order and a whole lot of upside. My credit card won't actually be charged until they are ready for shipment, and at that time I'll also be given the opportunity to cancel my order. Either my kids will get some nice Christmas presents, my PayPal account will get some eBay love, or I'll walk away with nary a financial bruise.

[David Falcones @ Jun 21st 2007 2:48PM]

I was a little excited and thinking about ponying up the cash but I read on their site that it takes 4 hours to charge for one hour of continuous use.

Seems really low, I personally would want a couple of hours to use to have it walk abound the house or something...i dunno.

[tekdroid @ Jun 23rd 2007 1:55AM]

thanks for the tip. Yeah, just read the FAQ... that's terrible battery life, but I s'pose it's to be expected.

[murray @ Jun 21st 2007 5:14PM]

I gotta say, after watching the videos and reading about this thing, I'm not overly impressed and I wouldn't spend $350 on it. It's cute, it moves... well, kinda naturally.. I guess. It makes noises. It supposedly develops a personality. Well, I look forward to finding out just how much personality such a limited robot can express. I don't think you'll be able to find your own pleo if you put it in a group of them. Seems like hype to me.

[TL @ Jun 26th 2007 3:09AM]

Looking for more information about Pleo?

Head over to Pleo HQ...

http://pleohq.com/

It brings together Pleo content from a variety of sources such as links from del.icio.us, a custom feed of news and blog posts, images from flickr, videos from you tube, auctions from ebay, and also has some other basic info like technical specs, an FAQ with open commenting, and so on.