I received this as a Christmas gift from someone. They bought it as a "hilarious" joke, as a comment on how tight fisted I am. I like to think of myself as more of a "careful spender" but I think my friend probably does have a point. Anyway, as it was a gift I do not know how much mine cost, or where it was purchased from. But after a brief search online, I think it probably cost in the region of £3-£7.

The jar is really easy to assemble. It comes in two bits. You've got the jar (which is made of plastic. I feel that glass would have been nicer, but I can totally see that plastic is more practical, especially as this is clearly meant as a kid's toy, not a professional piece of equipment) and you've got the lid- where the magic happens.

The top has a battery compartment that is sealed with a couple of small screws. Once you've whipped that off you just pop in a couple of AA batteries, screw it all up again then it's ready to go. The lid then screws onto the plastic jar. This simple screw mechanism makes it easy to access your money later- there's no point knowing how much is in there if you can't get at it! Since the lid and jar are quite chunky, they'd be easy for children to unscrew and put back together, which is another feature that makes this product good for kids. The jar is quite big and holds lots quite a few coins.

The basic idea of this jar is that you push coins through the slot in the lid and the digital display displays a running total of the sum of money in the jar. It takes quite a bit of welly to push coins through the slot and if you don't manage to push it through the first time, the jar sometimes ends up counting it twice. It, therefore, is not the most accurate of counting devices. Having said that, it does normally identify what coin has been inserted correctly and once you've got the hang of it, pushing the coins through the lid isn't too difficult.

I think that this toy (it's definitely meant as a toy more than a proper money counter) would be great for helping teach kids the value of money and helping to train them into little savers. I'm quite fond of my jar and like seeing the total add up when I stuff in a handful of loose change. For the price, I think it's good value. Most kids have a piggy bank at some point and I think this slightly more techie take would appeal to slightly older children of maybe 9 or 10 years of age.