Consumer Reports Ranks Top Tablets For Kids

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - A tablet makes a great gift for kids. The best come loaded with lots of games and activities. And they come with parental controls, to limit access to certain apps.

Consumer Reports checked out a dozen kids' tablets. They tested for responsiveness, screen quality, readability and battery life.

Testers also used "the tumbler," a special machine to check for durability. It replicates falls from almost three feet. Two tablets failed the tumbling test – the School Zone Little Scholar Learning Tablet, and the Isabella Products Fable. And Consumer Reports found the screen hard to swipe.

In the end, the KD Interactive Kurio Smart, for $200, topped Consumer Reports' ratings. It has a very good, easy to use screen. It is one of the most responsive tablets tested and comes loaded with several fun motion-sensor games.

The Kurio Smart runs on the Windows operating system, which is useful if your child is transitioning to a Windows computer for schoolwork.

And Consumer Reports named two Amazon Fire tablets Best Buys. The regular "grownup" version is $50 or you can opt for the $100 kid version. It comes with a bumper and is loaded with a year's subscription of kid-friendly content.

Both have nine hours of battery life and both survived the tumbler.

Complete Ratings and recommendations on all kinds of products, including appliances, cars & trucks, and electronic gear, are available on Consumer Reports' website. Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org.

Join The Conversation On The KDKA Facebook Page
Stay Up To Date, Follow KDKA On Twitter