HexBug Nano
Glows-in-the-Dark

Hexbug Nano Glows in the Dark Habitat Set

Hexbug Nano Glows in the Dark set inspired instant love and imagination in my five year old son’s heart on a recent visit to the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

As my son approached the magical age of five, I promised him a Father-Son road trip to the American Museum of Natural History in New York, a two hour car journey from the Poconos in Pennsylvania.

For weeks he would visit Google Earth and map out the trip, starting from our home and marveling at the third dimensional representation of the George Washington Bridge, finally ending the virtual journey at the museum. When we finally drove over the bridge, he admired in amazement and joyful remembrance.

The day at the museum was a beautiful and fulfilling experience for both of us. We started with the exploration of space and an intense odyssey into the Big Bang at the Hayden sphere and ended at the dinosaur fossil display. It was a long morning that stretched into the afternoon, but he wanted to revisit some key exhibits, which ultimately ended up being a double viewing of the entire museum. It was a special and binding moment in our shared human experience.

If you’ve read many of my other pages, you’d know that I can be a very frugal person. But I did want to get him something at one of the gift shops so he could remember this special day. I was hoping to get him something in the neighborhood of ten dollars, which at the museum might get you a pencil and an eraser. But I was hopeful for something more meaningful.

At the gift shop, we saw a few items that were interesting and some science kits that I had considered but would have to convince him that it could be fun. In a quick moment of discovery however, the universe unveiled a Hexbug Nano display that sparked imagination and wonder in my son’s eyes.

We ran over to the Hexbug Nano display, which had been set up with multiple habitat kits. A couple of Hex bug Nanos were buzzing around the habitats, sometimes getting stuck and sometimes speeding along the corridors and into the hex shaped areas, and sometimes circling over and over until it found its opportunity.

I could see that he fell in love with the Hexbug Nano, the magic in his eyes shined with brimming visibility and undeniable purity. Clearly, it was the one. To deny it would be an act of spiritual defiance; it was too meaningful, too magical and too perfect. And yet, I pulled out my phone and compared the prices at the museum with amazon, which of course had the exact sets for 20% less and free shipping. But I had made an internal decision that made my heart glow with love and wholesome affection.

And while he was having fun with just watching the hex bug nano roam around the giant habitat, he was immediately overwhelmed when I offered to buy him a package to take home. He was in full agreement, and I gave him two choices:

The first, a $39.99 habitat with very cool looking Hexbug Nanos, and the same sized habitat, also with two, less advanced hex bug nanos that glowed in the dark and cost an extra five dollars. I liked the Glow in the dark Hexbug Nano set much better, but was secretly hoping he liked the cheaper one. Sadly, he agreed with my tastes and very quickly decided on the glow in the dark Hex bug Nano habitat.

We took the HexBug Nano Glows in the Dark habitat set to the register, got a couple of pencils and erasers and a nice large Museum of Natural History shopping bag (free) and left the museum for the day. We went to Central Park afterwards and rented a row boat for the remainder of the afternoon, but I knew he couldn’t wait to start playing with his new Hexbug Nano. We raced to a local grocery store for some water then ran to the car - parked masterfully across the street from the museum (no paid parking)! My son sat in the back seat and I took out a hex shape habitat and he began to play with his new friend for the journey back home. Sadly, I lost a piece under the car seat before finding it a month later, though that never stopped the habitat from providing unending fun!

The Hexbug Nano is a creation of Innovation First International, a Greenville Texas company incorporated in 1996 with subsidiaries including VEX Robotics, Inc., RackSolutions, Inc. and Innovation First Labs. They started out making autonomous mobile ground robots in the areas of education, competition and consumer toys. Their 13 acre Texas complex houses the distribution center, a metal fabrication plant for their RackSolutions subsidiary and corporate offices. The corporation currently employs 75 people world wide. They launched the HEXBUG line of consumer toys with great reception in 2008. In case you were wondering, the Hex Bug Nano and habitat are made in China.

After enjoying the HexBug Nano during our road trip home, we went upstairs where mom and little sister were waiting for us. He quickly gave the white HexBug Nano to his three year old sister and together they shared the habitat before going to bed. At bedtime, he took the habitat to his bed and for the first time he could see the habitat and Hex bug Nano glowing in the dark. It was tough to come out in pictures or on video, but it was fun in person.

Over the next several days they continued to play and marvel at the Nanos. I eventually found the lost habitat piece and was able to calm my initial impression that the museum had sold me an incomplete set.

As I started preparing for this review, I took out the set and the kids are currently playing with it. They bring it out from time to time and today they have begun to fully explore the concept of restructuring the habitat into multiple arrangements, even fully appreciating that the Hex name stands for the hexagonal shape of the habitats. Meanwhile, I registered the Hexbug Nano specimens online with their unique code ( tip, don’t lose the paper inside the specimen tube, the code is irreplaceable). While the specimen tube claims our Hex bug Nanos are from the Galileo series, they are more specifically Mutations specimen and the two were placed in their appropriate virtual collection box. The website looks fun with multiple games and point systems, and my son looked at it briefly and will probably explore later, right now he and his sister are having too much fun with their Hex bug Nano specimens.

Overall, the Hexbug Nano Glows in the Dark habitat set was a great find that complemented a beautiful experience. My son continues to relate all elements of his journey, from the George Washington bridge to Manhattan to the Museum of Natural History to the Hex bug Nano experience. Later that Summer, we took the whole gang to the Bronx Zoo, and now he uses his building blocks to build bridges and landscapes from home to Manhattan and the Bronx.

A couple of things to consider, the battery life is good, but they get used a lot! So get more batteries! They’re small, and easy to lose, so sometimes you have to go on a HexBug Nano hunt. We now have rules that they can only play in their habitat, and they must go to sleep in their specimen tubes.

I would definitely consider more robotic toys from Innovation First, which currently include the Hexbug Original, Hexbug Inchworm, Hexbug Crab, Hexbug Ant, Hexbug Spider, Hexbug Larva, Hexbugs Scarab and the Nano.