Boogie Board Jot 8.5 Review

We are often asked for advice about keeping kids entertained during car journeys and flights. The Boogie Board Jot 8.5 is an LCD eWriter tablet that serves as an endless notepad with many uses, especially for traveling families. Because it is ultra-light and the size of a small notepad, it is super easy to throw into any carry on and can be used for doodling, tic-tac-toe, etc….  As a bonus, it can be erased up to 50,000 times. The Boogie Board Jot also comes in 4.5 inch and 10.5 inch sizes, but we find that the 8.5 inch size is the perfect not to big yet not to small compromise.  It’s a screen but not an electronic and not hard to see why the Jot 8.5 is the world’s #1 LCD writing tablet.  We’ve both used them and think they are great for traveling kids.

Catherine’s Thoughts:

Our family has been using Boogie Boards since their debut because my brother-in-law’s company, Kent Displays, manufactures Boogie Board eWriter products.  My kids often keep a Jot 8.5 LCD eWriter tablet in the car and use it to doodle.  The sleek stylus is very easy for my four year old daughter to manipulate, and the LCD pixels are bright.  The kids love how easy it is to erase with the press of a button and occasionally ask me to take a picture of creation before erasing and moving on to the next.   I’m glad that there’s no worry about pen stains or scraps of paper to clean up.

Photo credit – Kent Displays

The stylus is multi-functional and can be used to hold the eWriter in an angled position, but my kids prefer to place the Jot 8.5 on a table or in their lap and do not often use this function.

Photo credit – Kent Displays

While my kids have tried out a whole host of Boogie Board products while visiting their cousins, they seem to prefer the sleek Jot 8.5.  In addition to a semi-permanent residence in our car, the Jot 8.5 is feather light and can easily be added to a handbag or carry on and provides endless entertainment to kids during flights.

Photo credit – Kent Displays

Nancy’s Thoughts:

When Catherine mentioned doing a product review for the Boogie Board as something for families to take with them on trips, I was somewhat dumbfounded as who takes ocean equipment when traveling as a matter of course? After clearing up that misunderstanding, I became curious about the Boogie Board and decided to order the Jot 8.5 via Amazon. Upon arrival, both kids immediately begin fighting over who got to play with the device first, but anyone with two kids knows that’s nothing outside of the ordinary. What surprised me was that I immediately took to the Boogie Board. Prior to ordering the Boogie Board, I had considered getting my 3.5 year old a magnetic doodle board or an etch a sketch as he loves to practice writing. But, I wasn’t a fan of either as the writing can be disjointed and the boards don’t always wipe cleanly. I was looking for an e-writing type device, however, because my youngest is such a menace that he simply cannot be trusted alone with any writing implements. Fortunately, the Boogie Board not only captured his attention, but also that of my 9 year old.

As shown in this video, the Boogie Board writes smoothly and erases with one push of a button. My sons have now played with the Boogie Board on an airplane, in the car, and at church during extended announcements post-Mass. My father-in-law was so amused by the Boogie Board that he announced he was going to get one for himself just to tinker around with. As an added bonus, the Boogie Board is so lightweight and thin that it fits easily into my purse and I hardly even know it’s there. The best part of the Boogie Board, however, is that it alleviates all the anxiety I feel when my 3.5 year old gets his hands on a pencil or a marker as the provided stylus provides him with no opportunity to mark up hymnals or clothes or even his toes (yes, we’ve had highlighter and toe nail incidents with my little monkey)!

Depending on which Boogie Board you happen to own, there are different apps available to download onto your mobile device. I downloaded the Jot Mobile App, which allowed me to very quickly turn my son’s masterpiece into a jpg that I could store on my phone and send to his traveling father.

One might wonder whether the Boogie Board is necessary and of course, it’s not. But, it’s a fun and relatively low risk way for me to keep my 3.5 year old entertained and my 9 year old likes it because, as Catherine mentioned, it’s like an electronic device even if it isn’t. At the end of the day, for approximately $20, I’m happy to have it be part of my travel arsenal and would recommend this to anyone looking for a relatively inexpensive item to keep kids occupied during travel. As an added bonus, I have also used it to leave notes for my husband — we rarely keep paper around the house and hardly ever leave written messages anymore now that we can simply text one another. He was highly amused to find the Boogie Board note I left for him one afternoon and I’m sure we’ll continue to utilize the Boogie Board outside of travel as the opportunities present themselves.