Sphero App Enabled BB-9E

One of the birthday gifts I ordered for myself is the Sphero app enabled BB-9E. Because I already have Sphero’s R2-D2 and R2-Q5, I had to go back and forth on whether I wanted to buy BB-8 or BB-9E. I finally decided that since my sister has BB-8, I would go ahead and get BB-9E. Something else did influence my decision, though. I’ve noticed that since his debut, BB-9E really hasn’t received much love from Star Wars or droid fans. That, and he’s the least popular droid in Sphero’s line of astromechs. So that made me want to give one of these a good home, you know? I know he’s a First Order droid, but that’s just in the movie! Off camera, he’s not such a bad droid. So I guess a big part of my decision to get him was that I felt bad for him. So now he has a good home and will get all the same love as BB-8 does.

In reality, as far as Sphero’s astromech line goes, BB-9E is every bit as fun to play with as BB-8. Plus, unlike the Sphero BB-8, the Sphero BB-9E actually has LED lights in his head. Which not only look cool, but they also inadvertently work like little headlights if you’re using him in the dark.
The controls are exactly the same, so you won’t be in for any surprises there. If this is your first Sphero app enabled droid, I recommend going into the app settings and reducing his maximum movement speed until you’ve had time to get used to operating him. He’s not too hard to get the hang of, you just need time to get used to how he moves. It only took me a few minutes. Then again, that could be attributed to the fact that I’ve played with my sister’s BB-8, so I already knew how to operate BB-9E when I got him.
As far as price goes, this is actually a pretty affordable little droid. I got mine on Amazon, brand new and sealed for $60, which is quite a bargain considering that when he came out, he retailed for somewhere between $130 to $150. This could be in part to his lack of popularity, and places just want to get him off the shelves already, or it could just be that the hype over the release of the Sphero app enabled droids has had enough time to die down. Either way, you can get him $50 to $60 online depending on where you look. Either way, he’s a real bargain. Especially given how much fun you’ll have with him.