We had both and I'm glad that yoto took their system back, no questions asked - great customer service. I absolutely agree, tonie box is great for toddlers and preschool age, while yoto is better for kindergarten and up (maybe older preschool for a patient kid). For anyone with a kid that gets easily frustrated, definitely go with the tonie box. Even an older baby can operate it. And for those with kids with a particularly low frustration tolerance - just don't tell them that you can skip the songs by hitting the box. Going strong with nearly 2 years of daily use with the tonie box and our now 3 year old still doesn't know that you can skip tracks 😆 Yes, the figures are more expensive for tonie, which is why I originally wanted the yoto - but on the other hand, the ones with original content is much better liked with my kids vs the yoto ones with original content. Plus, especially little kids will listen to the same 2 or 3 cards or figures constantly anyway. Plus these figures are so great as stocking stuffer and in an Easter basket - it's so popular as a gift with the relatives that we already accumulated 20 of them and I need to rotate them.
Very good point about original content! I completely forgot to mention that Tonie original content seems to be much better. I find Tonie narrators to be more fun. Even the collaboration content Tonie is better. I like how Tonie has a couple tracks and then a story. Tonie along with audio narration they also use the real voices from the actual show/movie while Yoto seems to just have a narrator.
Something cool about the Yoto, is the make your own cards. As a multilingual family, its great to upload different stories and music in other languages. Also, grandparents or family members can record themselves. reading a story and you can upload that to the card. I love that!
Just a few notes on Yoto mini, if you use the yoto app you can change settings on the device like how long till it goes into power off mode, how long to leave the display on and how loud the volume can go. Also if you loose a card, you can link the content to another make your own card so that they can still use it without having to use the app. I know not all kids are the same but my 17 month old daughter has gotten really good with using her yoto on her own (She's had it since Christmas). She understands and knows how to change cards to pick what she wants to listen to, how to change tracks and even turning on the podcast to listen to. She loves her unit to death and uses it daily. I was heavily debating between both players last year but I'm really glad I went yoto mini because it's so easy for her to cary around the house.
This makes me feel better about my purchase. I have a 16 month old and ours will be coming in the mail next week. The thing that sold us was obviously the portability because we’re going to be traveling soon. Also the ability to make your own cards and that it’s not so heavily Disney focused we don’t really do Disney in our house.
Thank you for doing this review! I couldn’t agree more! Both of my kids have the tonies. Ages 3 and 7. It was out big Christmas gift for the kids 2 years ago, and it was a hit! My baby! Could manage the Toniebox! Both of my kids use the tonie box every night. Which I love! I recently decided to add a Yoto box after our local bookstore also had a yoto player, mostly so my 7 year old can have a larger selection of bigger books for our car rides (lifestyle we have long rides). I don’t like bringing the tonie box with us when we travel because they are so precious my kids listen to the tonie box everyday. So what we do is play the same tonie songs they fall asleep to and the calm tonie when we travel on UA-cam with our devices.
I chose the storypod over the Tonie Box due to the variety ! Also included trivia and books :) Love that you can record your own content and have family members also share !
Ah this is what I've been waiting for. We have a yoto at work but I'm intrigued by the tonie. Now I've watched the whole video, I'm definitely going to be getting a yoto.
Trying to make a decision to get one of these for my 2y8m daughter. I like that yoto has bluetooth and podcast but you are right kids will like the tonies more.
We have a Storypod and I feel like it is better than the Toniebox. I haven't checked out the other. I love the Storypod's Crafties because they are soft and my daughter can hold them while she listens to them. I also love the fact that they have items that you can record your own audio.
Thanks for the review, I have thought about getting a Tonie a few times. My 4 year old struggles to change the track on his Yoto mini, so he usually listens all the way, but he understands how to put on Yoto Daily by himself. I have the second right-click set to the tidy up timer so he does this himself too. I decided on Yoto mostly due to the Make Your Own card as a trilingual family. I put flag icons for the different language versions of the same story on one card 😊 My son also loves the Lego pack activity cards and the Bake with Yoto cards.
That’s good to know about the buttons. My son is almost 4 and he really only constantly knows how to use volume control well. I bought the Toniebox with the creative Tonies in mind for our family’s trilingual content. I love the make your own cards as they so much more affordable compared to creative Tonies, but after using both I would after using both I think Tonies are easier to make. It’s a bit different in that each creative tonie is a playlist so you just add content to it versus Yoto where you make playlist then put them onto a card. Doesn’t sound like a huge difference but Tonie I don’t need to put the creative Tonie on to add content to it.
@@kevin-lu i found out that a yoto card pack called “my first classical music collection” are not just for kids, but for adults. this means it’s from 0-99 years old.
I've been battling between toonie box and yoto for my 4 year old son. But i did settle at yoto player. Whem it comes to the size between toonie box and yoto player is pretty much not a big difference but it has a night light and a clock which is convenient for our use. But the main reason was that the toonie figurines is hard to pack when it comes for travelling and each figurine cost way more than a card. And its way better to take cards for the travelling than books before bed. And i do planning to buy a mini yoto for travelling. While toonie box doesn't have that option. Yes i agree that figurines looks more appealing but as long as it does the story job and more practical for your daily use you should choose what your kid loves more. I chose yoto for practical purposes and for travelling (we do travel a lot and very long distances)
Great video. Thank you. We'd have chosen for the Yoto Mini, if it weren't for lack of support for Dutch and German. The DIY card would help, but it's ultimately too much hassle to load every single story you want manually
We got a Yoto Mini for our daughter's 4th birthday and it has been a big hit. It's also been dropped more times than I can remember and it doesn't have a scratch on it (and no case), so it's solid. Operation isn't a problem as she started just doing the basics -- cards in, change chapters and volume. She also used the pause option, which was added soon after we had it. As she got older, she has learned more advanced features. She loves Yoto Daily, the free built-in podcast, it's really well done and the host Jake is a hero in our household. Bluetooth pairing was a long time coming and is still a bit fiddly, but it does work. Cards are too expensive IMO, but blanks are cheap and it's easy to record your own. We get family to read stories so they can hear grandma or grandma, etc on trips. Overall, it has been a really good investment and I can see it lasting until she is 8-10. There are older cards for that age, like learning capital cities, etc. Though whenever she ends up getting a mobile phone, I suspect it will be game over the for the Yoto Mini.
My 18 month old daughter is probably a bit more rough as our little screen is already pretty scuffed 😅 and that’s with the case on. I can see the Yoto Mini lasting much longer due to all the features. We’re planning to hold out as long as possible before a mobile phone, but in this age and time seems to be harder and harder.
I would recommend the story pod instead of the tonie. I love the soft plush characters (crafties) that are well made. Also love the books and educational material story pod offers to help your child grow!
I got both, the same colors your have lol red and frog soup jacket for my mini ❤ My son is almost 4 and I have the toniebox in the car and the yoto mini at home but he uses the tonie box more, hoping that when he is older he will get more into the yoto mini, i dont know but i think that maybe if the yoto was regular size he would be more into it, might get it for him for christmas , idk
I think that children are naturally drawn to the figurines of the Toniebox. My son is almost 4 years old and at the moment switches between them depending on what he wants to listen. The Yoto Mini does have some nice podcast and older kid content, so I would imagine your son would eventually start using it more as his overall understanding grows. Christmas is a bits away so you have some time to see how things go from now until then.
After some thorough comparison I chose the Storypod over these other options. My kids are 1 and 2 and it's incredibly easy for them to use independently, unlike the Yoto. They love the entertaining content of the crafties and I love the many educational options our device supports as my children grow. Yay for screen free entertainment!
I also went with the Storypod! I liked the soft characters my littles could play with and that as they got older, their was content to grow with them from books to trivia cards.
The Yoto player wouldn’t be bad in that situation as chances are the older sibling will learn how to use it and younger siblings for some reason learn sooo much faster watching their older sibling do something than a parent showing them.
I would think that it's different for each family as I know some children are definitely a bit more rough on their items when compared to others. The larger Yoto probably has less drop issues as well since it's much larger and usually requires two hands to carry, while the Yoto Mini is small so easily carry with one hand. I view it similar to tablets vs phones. My iPad I don't really need a case as chances of me dropping it is much more rare compared to the smaller iPhone.
Thank you so much as always for your helpful videos Kevin! I have a Tonies box (which i got after seeing your video 😅) I really trust your recommendations. Now I need to add a mini! How do you store your figurines? Are you still using the storage bag? Are you planning to add the other yoto to your collection? Are your yoto links affiliate links or do you have a referral code. Want to make sure you get credit!
I want the Yoto bc you can blue tooth but I have read so many reviews saying that a large percentage of them break in less than a year and you HAVE to be connected to wifi to get it to work so it’s not really great for traveling. Can someone confirm if they have been able to travel with it?
I haven’t opened it that long but no problems traveling with it. We just recently took it on a road trip with no issues. Also I regularly take it on our walks around the neighborhood no issues. But I don’t use bluetooth on it very often besides testing it once ore twice. Usually most is the cards.
You can travel with the Yoto players. There are some features that don't work while offline like podcast but as long as you've used cards on the device first when it was online you will be able to continue using them offline as the audio will be downloaded to the device. Yoto has an FAQ to explain this in greater detail.
We had both and I'm glad that yoto took their system back, no questions asked - great customer service. I absolutely agree, tonie box is great for toddlers and preschool age, while yoto is better for kindergarten and up (maybe older preschool for a patient kid).
For anyone with a kid that gets easily frustrated, definitely go with the tonie box. Even an older baby can operate it. And for those with kids with a particularly low frustration tolerance - just don't tell them that you can skip the songs by hitting the box. Going strong with nearly 2 years of daily use with the tonie box and our now 3 year old still doesn't know that you can skip tracks 😆
Yes, the figures are more expensive for tonie, which is why I originally wanted the yoto - but on the other hand, the ones with original content is much better liked with my kids vs the yoto ones with original content. Plus, especially little kids will listen to the same 2 or 3 cards or figures constantly anyway. Plus these figures are so great as stocking stuffer and in an Easter basket - it's so popular as a gift with the relatives that we already accumulated 20 of them and I need to rotate them.
Very good point about original content! I completely forgot to mention that Tonie original content seems to be much better. I find Tonie narrators to be more fun.
Even the collaboration content Tonie is better. I like how Tonie has a couple tracks and then a story. Tonie along with audio narration they also use the real voices from the actual show/movie while Yoto seems to just have a narrator.
Agree with everything you wrote 100%! Especially about the age!
Something cool about the Yoto, is the make your own cards. As a multilingual family, its great to upload different stories and music in other languages. Also, grandparents or family members can record themselves. reading a story and you can upload that to the card. I love that!
Creative tonies can do the exact same thing.
Just a few notes on Yoto mini, if you use the yoto app you can change settings on the device like how long till it goes into power off mode, how long to leave the display on and how loud the volume can go. Also if you loose a card, you can link the content to another make your own card so that they can still use it without having to use the app.
I know not all kids are the same but my 17 month old daughter has gotten really good with using her yoto on her own (She's had it since Christmas). She understands and knows how to change cards to pick what she wants to listen to, how to change tracks and even turning on the podcast to listen to. She loves her unit to death and uses it daily. I was heavily debating between both players last year but I'm really glad I went yoto mini because it's so easy for her to cary around the house.
This makes me feel better about my purchase. I have a 16 month old and ours will be coming in the mail next week. The thing that sold us was obviously the portability because we’re going to be traveling soon. Also the ability to make your own cards and that it’s not so heavily Disney focused we don’t really do Disney in our house.
Don’t forget that if you lose a physical yoto card, you can link the content to a MYO card in seconds and then use it without your phone or wifi.
Thank you for doing this review! I couldn’t agree more! Both of my kids have the tonies. Ages 3 and 7. It was out big Christmas gift for the kids 2 years ago, and it was a hit! My baby! Could manage the Toniebox! Both of my kids use the tonie box every night. Which I love!
I recently decided to add a Yoto box after our local bookstore also had a yoto player, mostly so my 7 year old can have a larger selection of bigger books for our car rides (lifestyle we have long rides). I don’t like bringing the tonie box with us when we travel because they are so precious my kids listen to the tonie box everyday. So what we do is play the same tonie songs they fall asleep to and the calm tonie when we travel on UA-cam with our devices.
Thanks really good comparing and explaining
Very good comprehensive review!!! Thank you
I chose the storypod over the Tonie Box due to the variety ! Also included trivia and books :) Love that you can record your own content and have family members also share !
Excellent review, thank you!
This is really helpful thank you ☺️👍
Ah this is what I've been waiting for. We have a yoto at work but I'm intrigued by the tonie.
Now I've watched the whole video, I'm definitely going to be getting a yoto.
The Yoto definitely is the product that last you more years. I’m just a sucker for collectibles 😅
Very helpful, thank you!
Trying to make a decision to get one of these for my 2y8m daughter. I like that yoto has bluetooth and podcast but you are right kids will like the tonies more.
Makes me want both
We have a Storypod and I feel like it is better than the Toniebox. I haven't checked out the other. I love the Storypod's Crafties because they are soft and my daughter can hold them while she listens to them. I also love the fact that they have items that you can record your own audio.
Thanks for the review, I have thought about getting a Tonie a few times. My 4 year old struggles to change the track on his Yoto mini, so he usually listens all the way, but he understands how to put on Yoto Daily by himself. I have the second right-click set to the tidy up timer so he does this himself too. I decided on Yoto mostly due to the Make Your Own card as a trilingual family. I put flag icons for the different language versions of the same story on one card 😊
My son also loves the Lego pack activity cards and the Bake with Yoto cards.
That’s good to know about the buttons. My son is almost 4 and he really only constantly knows how to use volume control well. I bought the Toniebox with the creative Tonies in mind for our family’s trilingual content. I love the make your own cards as they so much more affordable compared to creative Tonies, but after using both I would after using both I think Tonies are easier to make. It’s a bit different in that each creative tonie is a playlist so you just add content to it versus Yoto where you make playlist then put them onto a card. Doesn’t sound like a huge difference but Tonie I don’t need to put the creative Tonie on to add content to it.
@@kevin-lu i found out that a yoto card pack called “my first classical music collection” are not just for kids, but for adults. this means it’s from 0-99 years old.
I've been battling between toonie box and yoto for my 4 year old son. But i did settle at yoto player. Whem it comes to the size between toonie box and yoto player is pretty much not a big difference but it has a night light and a clock which is convenient for our use. But the main reason was that the toonie figurines is hard to pack when it comes for travelling and each figurine cost way more than a card. And its way better to take cards for the travelling than books before bed. And i do planning to buy a mini yoto for travelling. While toonie box doesn't have that option. Yes i agree that figurines looks more appealing but as long as it does the story job and more practical for your daily use you should choose what your kid loves more. I chose yoto for practical purposes and for travelling (we do travel a lot and very long distances)
Great video. Thank you. We'd have chosen for the Yoto Mini, if it weren't for lack of support for Dutch and German. The DIY card would help, but it's ultimately too much hassle to load every single story you want manually
We got a Yoto Mini for our daughter's 4th birthday and it has been a big hit. It's also been dropped more times than I can remember and it doesn't have a scratch on it (and no case), so it's solid.
Operation isn't a problem as she started just doing the basics -- cards in, change chapters and volume. She also used the pause option, which was added soon after we had it. As she got older, she has learned more advanced features. She loves Yoto Daily, the free built-in podcast, it's really well done and the host Jake is a hero in our household.
Bluetooth pairing was a long time coming and is still a bit fiddly, but it does work. Cards are too expensive IMO, but blanks are cheap and it's easy to record your own. We get family to read stories so they can hear grandma or grandma, etc on trips.
Overall, it has been a really good investment and I can see it lasting until she is 8-10. There are older cards for that age, like learning capital cities, etc. Though whenever she ends up getting a mobile phone, I suspect it will be game over the for the Yoto Mini.
My 18 month old daughter is probably a bit more rough as our little screen is already pretty scuffed 😅 and that’s with the case on.
I can see the Yoto Mini lasting much longer due to all the features. We’re planning to hold out as long as possible before a mobile phone, but in this age and time seems to be harder and harder.
@@kevin-lu ah yes, I'd say 18 months is too young. I think 4 was perfect and 3 possible. But 18 months they'll just throw it around like Lego bricks.
@@gordonkelly oh no…
I would recommend the story pod instead of the tonie. I love the soft plush characters (crafties) that are well made. Also love the books and educational material story pod offers to help your child grow!
Hi, thank you for your video. Could you please let me know how to track specific content from the yoto mini.
I got both, the same colors your have lol red and frog soup jacket for my mini ❤ My son is almost 4 and I have the toniebox in the car and the yoto mini at home but he uses the tonie box more, hoping that when he is older he will get more into the yoto mini, i dont know but i think that maybe if the yoto was regular size he would be more into it, might get it for him for christmas , idk
I think that children are naturally drawn to the figurines of the Toniebox. My son is almost 4 years old and at the moment switches between them depending on what he wants to listen. The Yoto Mini does have some nice podcast and older kid content, so I would imagine your son would eventually start using it more as his overall understanding grows. Christmas is a bits away so you have some time to see how things go from now until then.
After some thorough comparison I chose the Storypod over these other options. My kids are 1 and 2 and it's incredibly easy for them to use independently, unlike the Yoto. They love the entertaining content of the crafties and I love the many educational options our device supports as my children grow. Yay for screen free entertainment!
I also went with the Storypod! I liked the soft characters my littles could play with and that as they got older, their was content to grow with them from books to trivia cards.
This is much easier for my 18 month old to use and she really likes the little plush characters.
You can change the auto shutoff on the yoto in the app from 1 hour to as low as 15 minutes.
I’ve been debating on a yoto player for my sons birthday in aug. He will be 3 but I also have a 5 year old too.
The Yoto player wouldn’t be bad in that situation as chances are the older sibling will learn how to use it and younger siblings for some reason learn sooo much faster watching their older sibling do something than a parent showing them.
@@kevin-lu I’ve definitely noticed the 2nd learns so much faster! Thank you for your review. They’re always so thorough!
Yoto didn't offer the jackets for the big ones for years. It was never an issue, but people wanted to "dress them up"!
I would think that it's different for each family as I know some children are definitely a bit more rough on their items when compared to others. The larger Yoto probably has less drop issues as well since it's much larger and usually requires two hands to carry, while the Yoto Mini is small so easily carry with one hand.
I view it similar to tablets vs phones. My iPad I don't really need a case as chances of me dropping it is much more rare compared to the smaller iPhone.
Thank you so much as always for your helpful videos Kevin! I have a Tonies box (which i got after seeing your video 😅) I really trust your recommendations. Now I need to add a mini! How do you store your figurines? Are you still using the storage bag?
Are you planning to add the other yoto to your collection?
Are your yoto links affiliate links or do you have a referral code. Want to make sure you get credit!
I want the Yoto bc you can blue tooth but I have read so many reviews saying that a large percentage of them break in less than a year and you HAVE to be connected to wifi to get it to work so it’s not really great for traveling. Can someone confirm if they have been able to travel with it?
I haven’t opened it that long but no problems traveling with it. We just recently took it on a road trip with no issues. Also I regularly take it on our walks around the neighborhood no issues. But I don’t use bluetooth on it very often besides testing it once ore twice. Usually most is the cards.
You can travel with the Yoto players. There are some features that don't work while offline like podcast but as long as you've used cards on the device first when it was online you will be able to continue using them offline as the audio will be downloaded to the device. Yoto has an FAQ to explain this in greater detail.
8:16 bro 💀💀💀