I bought one of these for my school as I was waiting for Vic Firth kits to come in. It has a decent sound and is in tune. I bought the one with piano colors so I can show my band the relationship between accidentals and the colors on a piano. I wish the black keys showed the flat enharmonics, but I just put a sticker on those keys. It is a perfect size to put on a music stand. I showed it to my percussion lessons teacher and said it was "really cool" and he would consider buying a set. The case feels a little flimsy, but has held up to two months of traveling in a tote between two schools every day and being used by middle schoolers. Read more
Makes great music, multiple octaves, great for learners (as long as you store the instrument between sessions), the plastic mallets are a little bit not as sturdy as they could be - but I followed a recommendation here to get new mallets and those were worse. So the plastic mallets are the way to go, I just wish they made the mallet stick a bit thicker and less bend-prone. Fantastic excellent purchase, and the pink color is kind of fun - reminds you to pull it out and practice more. Easy to store, although the latch to open/close it takes a bit of memory on how to open it. Love the music made from it. Read more
Good value for the money; not outstanding quality, but quite decent for introduction and/or kids use. Mallets are a single solid piece so might not hold up to long term use. Read more
It is in tune with itself! It is pitched high relative to other xylophones, but, most importantly, it IS in tune with itself. The plastic used for the mallet is quite loud as the blue plastic is hard. We do use a more rubbery mallet from a different xlophone for a softer sound when my older daughter plays. That said the blue mallet seems safe when my 1-year old absconds with it to use as a teething toy. The instrument itself really isn’t for kids under 3. There is foam that the keys rest on that a younger child might enjoy picking out the exposed bits between the black keys (and even beneath the keys). This creates a choking hazard and damages the instrument and sound produced. Read more
Pretty good works great kid loves it Read more
I’m a professional musician and got this to help with some pre school classes I’m teaching so I could demonstrate different instruments when we sing. It’s awesome! Loud if needed, soft if not. Great fun tone! Well built. Plastic mallets are fine. Highly recommend it! Read more
(SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATE) This plays very well, lovely sound, but a lot of the screws to hold the bell plates in place were flopping around loose inside the case. I put in as many as I could, but one is inaccessibly stuck inside the case and the other is simply missing. I would have preferred to give this a 5-star review, since it sounds great, but nothing in the description mentioned assembly being required or parts needing to be obtained. I would be happy to amend my review if the vendor would like to supply the two missing screws. Update: the missing screws were lodged under the frame; a student found them and we re-affixed them. I have upgraded the review from three to five stars since, now that the screws are in place, it’s just perfect. Read more
I teach a music class and use these as take home bellsets for students to check out. They're reasonable for the price, although the mallets are overly flexible. I substitute rubber head resonator bar mallets instead. While they're not the best glockenspiels on the market, sometimes it's better to have 10 $25 sets vs 1 $250 one. I will likely be buying more of these in the future. Read more
