We have been using the Fire HD 8 Kid’s Edition Tablet for the past 8 months and they have been thoroughly kid-tested in the techie house.  Keep reading for our review.

They are durable

These tablets were dropped, thrown and completely abused.  Part of the reason they have survived is that they come with a thick protective case with huge corner bumpers.  The case is excellent at protecting the tablet.  If something does happen, you have a 2-year worry-free guarantee.  They say “if they break it, return it and we’ll replace it for free. No questions asked.”

The cases look good and come in blue, yellow or pink.  One important detail is that we only recommend the Fire HD 8 Kid’s Edition Tablet.  We have tried the earlier versions, but don’t recommend them.

We bought one of these 2-packs and made it an even better deal.  The different case colors is a great thing for us.  Each kid has their own tablet with a different colored case.  If they leave it on and run down the battery, they can’t just grab the other one.  In addition to keeping down fights, there is some amount of personalization and their favorite apps display first so it helps for each child to have their own.

They are upgradeable

They come with 32GB of built-in storage and that’s enough for installing apps.  We download movies to the Fire HD 8 Kid’s Edition Tablet for road trips when we won’t have WiFi.  Luckily, you can add 256 GB of extra storage by installing a Micro SD card.  The following memory cards are specifically designed to work with the Fire Tablets.  We use the 128 GB Micro SD card so we have plenty of room for movies.

FreeTime Unlimited

You have control of content.  If you have a digital video library or have bought Android apps that you want to load on the Fire HD 8 Kid’s Edition Tablet you can.  You choose what you want to share.  To add to anything you already have they include a year of FreeTime Unlimited with the tablet.  It’s what the kids will see when using the tablet.  It includes access to over 15,000 books, games, movies and TV shows from Disney, Nickelodeon, PBS, and others.  Best of all, it also includes educational apps.

What are the drawbacks?

The main drawback is that it isn’t an iPad.  There are some apps or games for kids that only have an IOS version.  Here’s a secret.  The kids don’t care and you can buy 2 Fire HD 8 Kid’s Edition Tablets with kid-proof cases for the cost of a single iPad.  With an iPad, you have to buy a case on top of buying the tablet.