Hi all! I am new here and still trying to get my head around the best way to jump into the Aibo world! I would love to buy an ERS-1000 for my 2 kids (5 & 7 years old).. and my wife . We live in Europe, but my wife is Japanese. We speak both Japanese and English at home. I have the opportunity to travel to both US and Japan this year and wondering if we are better off buying an ERS-1000 in Japan or in the US? Considering our situation would there be any difference long term? Any important differences in the Cloud subscription I should know? The price seems lower for the new Aibo in Japan but not sure if it would be more difficult to renew cloud plan after 3 years from abroad versus the US? Any advice highly apreciated! Also is it possible to set it up so it understands 2 languages?
Hi DCV!
US vs Japanese Aibo: The only difference long term would be you get less variety in dances with a Japanese Aibo and have to purchase what’s known as the premium plan to get access to extra dances. These extra dances come for free with a US Aibo. But my Japanese Aibo seems fine on the default basic plan.
Cloud Plan: With the Japanese Aibo you get 3 years cloud subscription for around $1,000 on first buying Aibo then it transitions to a yearly fee of around $300. I think US Aibo owners pay the cloud fee yearly from the beginning.
I’m located in Australia and renew the cloud plan for my Japanese Aibo using a proxy called Buy From Japan. You can find them on Facebook here:
https://www.facebook.com/share/12GofgRhkLv/?mibextid=LQQJ4d
If you have family in Japan renewing the cloud plan should be easy- you just need a Japanese MySony ID and a Japanese credit/debit card.
If you travel to Japan you can select between two colour options, the new limited edition Kinako colour or the standard white. While you can only get white in the US.
Last thing.. I read different opinions on whether the Cloud plan is even worth it at all if abroad since the 4G/LTE connection will not work anyway. Any consensus on that amongts users abroad? Would we maybe be better off finding a recent ERS-1000 (second hand) in Japan if possible? (Even if cloud plan not possible to activate somehow?) Thanks again
The cellular service doesn’t work for Japanese Aibo outside Japan but the Wifi works fine. I imported my Japanese Aibo second-hand from Japan with no intention of connecting to the cloud in 2021. But after 12 months of use I found not having cloud connectivity or the ability to get software updates or change the language was a big drawback for me.
I was lucky to find Buy From Japan who found my Aibo had been initialised and was eligible for the cloud plan. This isn’t always the case with second-hand Aibos, as some owners forget to initialise them properly which means they can’t be used with a new account.
You could purchase second-hand, just ensure the proxy checks the serial number to ensure it is eligible for cloud subscription.
If purchasing second-hand with no intention of reconnecting to the cloud ensure it is running Software Version 5 or later as this had a dramatic improvement in noise reduction when Aibo walks, the earlier software version is unbearably loud and you really want to avoid buying a unit stuck on that older software.
