Comments about Chamberlin Illuminated Floor Globe:

I like the globe and it's great for kids because it's so easy to read. However, the auto-illumination feature doesn't work well at all. It's quite inconsistent and I'd rather have a globe with an on/off switch.

Comments about Chamberlin Illuminated Floor Globe:

Back in the mid-eighties, I bought a 16-inch National Geographic globe that I loved and still own. It had an amazing wealth of detail; it was mounted on a spindle so you could pick the ball up and hold it in your hands; and it came with a geometer, a clear plastic end-cap with scales that allowed you to measure distances, areas, azimuth angles, and an analemma that showed the Sun's highest point on a given day. Alas, that globe is out-of-date. It has East and West Germany, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union. I've dreamed of replacing it with a current globe of similar quality, and maybe someday National Gepgraphic will actually produce one. But that time is not now.

Of course, how much detail and how many place names to include on a globe is a subjective decision. Many would consider my beloved 1984 globe to be too busy and cluttered. The choice to include much less detail on this globe gives it a clean look and makes it generally easier to read.

So I don't fault it for not containing more place names; that's what my atlas is for. But it does have two major drawbacks. One is the light feature. This "feature" is not controlled by anything as sensible as an on/off switch. It is turned on by tapping the globe and turns itself off when it feels like it. YOU can't turn it off. But it does not require a deliberate tap to turn on; it can turn on just by touching it, or by tilting the ball up to view the antarctic, or, since I've placed it by my recliner, by moving my recliner to the upright position. A couple of times it turned on mysteriously. Did a large truck drive by? Since the globe looks better and is easier to read with the light off, this inadvertant "on" grew swiftly annoying. After having the globe less that a day I removed the batteries.

The other major drawback (which might also be due to the light fixture) is that the ball is badly unbalanced. What this means is that it will not stay at the point I rotate it to. When I look at it from my chair, it presents the western Pacific Ocean. If I rotate it so that Africa is visible I have to hold it there. If I let it go, it will quickly turn itself back to present the western Pacific. A globe should stay where you positioned it without having to hold it still.

Despite the above complaints, it is a beautiful globe with an uncluttered look and welcome adjunct to my NG Atlas.