Get stuffed.

£250 is pricy but hell the fun you could have ........ I could terrorise the cat whenever I wanted from anywhere :D

"While the styling may be a bit 1980s Starbird-style"

Actually, for those of us of A Certain Age[tm] it looks more like a half-arsed noughties 'reimagining' of a BigTrak, but without the various odds and sods that made the BigTrak semi-cool.

Personally, I'd lump such a thing into the MMTS bracket (More Money Than Sense)

Is it easily hackable? If it is possible to easily DIY the speaker and flashlight then might be worth it as a good toy. Also, what level of 'stealth' does it have? Meaning is it silent enough to sneak in on the wife unannounced for a good prank?

250 quid is a bit expensive, but I bought the first version of the Robosapien four or so years ago when it first came out, and I loved it. The price point seemed a bit high at the time but once it was in my hands I saw that it was just about right as the construction was so good. Wowwee made good impression on me back then and I keep following up on their products, even though I am still waiting for my next purchase.

Hell, that's a blast from the past!!

Paris? Obvious lame reference... ;)

/tilts Starbird upwards and grabs coat

I am sure that I could make one of these for less than a quarter of the price...and fitted with nerf rockets.

*ponders*

...let them sell a lot of these, and please let the default settings allow anyone with a handle on inurl: searches to find and control them.

...me and el-reg are on the same wavelength. Sort of.

Just yesterday I bought a Meccano SpyKee! That and the Rovio go hand-in-hand, as they are quite close in terms of features. I looked at the Rovio at the same time as researching the SpyKee, and came to the conclusion its just not worth the £250.

The SpyKee is £150 now from my local Tesco (RRP £200), which is about as cheap as you can get it brand new in the UK, after a quick googling.

Thats pretty much the most I have ever spent in one go at Tescos. It'll be a shock when I see my bank statement having probably forgotten about the purchase by then!

The Spykee only does QVGA / 320x200 at 15fps as opposed to the Rovio, so its price bump is a little justified. Just dont tell anybody that 640x480 webcams can be had for only a few notes nowadays! ;-)

One thing to note about the SpyKee, something which may very well affect the Rovio too - I have so far had to return it for a replacement as it refused to charge itself!! The replacement is now on charge, awaiting a full initial charge for the full test, but I'm not holding my breath as I did nothing wrong the first time round, after going thru the manual 10 times to see whether I did anything incorrectly, I think its way within my limited abilities to at least charge a device up!

Something to do with it using NiMH instead of trusty lithium Ions I reckon. Does the Rovio use NiMH batteries?