Abacus Soroban for Kids, Plastic Abacus Beads Chinese Calculator Abacus 17 Digits Math Learning Educational Abacus Counting Tool for Kids Adults

This is a lightweight plastic 17 column abacus.I like the rainbow colors and the unit marks make it easy to orient on the correct column for use.The beads are finger sized. A pro or con depending on your preference is that the beads have a rough seam around the middle. It either irritates your fingers or makes it easy not to slip off a bead. Depends on the user.Unfortunately the top row is standard height and the beads bounce back out of position if you clear the top row too quickly. Also when the abacus is jostled, which happens easily, the light weight beads slide out of position and you lose your number.A poor solution so far is to use it on a fuzzy fabric so the strands stick through the back and hold the beads. Foam might work well too.I am going to go buy some felt and put it behind the beads like a Cranmer abacus and we will see if that makes it more usable for kids. Accidentally losing the number is very discouraging.

I like it is built nicely, felt a bit bigger for my toddler hard to handle but it does the job, the beads move smoothly but wish there is some resistance so that they don't slip away and stay at place untill moved. It does the job and at 10$ I am pretty happy with the value.

10/13/2023 Review of rainbow abacus.This could easily be a five star item if everything about it was upgraded a little. The colors are pretty. The beads are very light and roughly milled. They need to be polished a bit and some of them have a small melted spot. It's not obvious, and the beads aren't unpleasant to touch. The roughness and light beads would slow a person down who was trying to calculate quickly. They also don't move smoothly on the rods, especially the middle heaven bead. That one doesn't sit at the same level as the others. The space to move the heaven beads is too small and feels uncomfortable. The horizontal front bar flexes with the push slight of my finger. It's not a badly made item, it's just that all the things that need improvement compound. If I bump the frame, even very gently, all the beads move out of order. That's my complaint and why I wouldn't repurchase. I suspect many people would feel the same and would expect it to be sturdy and heavier. If you're shopping for an abacus, this one is pretty and good for slow example work. I'd hope a student would have better quality so they can focus on speed, and having a reset button would be nice too. Due to these factors I believe this abacus would be frustrating to a student. If you're introducing a very young baby to the abacus this might be a good choice, because the rainbow colors would get their attention and that could be followed by a better quality model later. For adults this one feels very small and isn't practical. If it's small it needs heavier beads. This item has its place, it's just not the best for calculations. I bought another abacus of this type in plain brown with a reset button from another company and that one is easy to use and feels comfortable. The size isn't the whole problem with this rainbow item.