Toy Guide - Top toys this Christmas

Our discerning panel of testers has reviewed the top toys for 2005 as predicted by the Toy Retailers Association. Do they get the iVillage stamp of approval? Find out

New Baby Annabell
Manufacturer Zapf
Age From 3 years
Price £32.95
iVillage star rating *****
Buy online www.johnlewis.com

Manufacturer/retailer says New Baby Annabell is tipped as the top selling doll this Christmas by the Toy Retailers Association. This new version cries real tears, giggles, sucks her bottle and dummy and even burps. Bottle, dummy, teether and nappies are included.

We say The combination of a very well designed, realistic doll with useful accessories and real tears made this a much loved companion for our testers. After sucking water from her bottle, Baby Annabell randomly falls asleep or cries. Parents liked the handy off switch.

Steam Along Thomas Set
Manufacturer Tomy
Age From 3 years
Price £49.95
iVillage star rating ***
Buy online www.argos.co.uk

Manufacturer/retailer says Predicted to be a top dozen toy by the Toy Retailers Association. It has real sounds and a magical steam effect from Thomas's glowing funnel as he chugs around the track. Includes new Maithwate Station, bridge and tunnel. Compatible with Thomas Road and Rail sets.

We say Although the cold water steam is safe to touch, and a great special effect, it has its limitations. Our parents did not like the fact that adult assistance is required to fill Thomas and water has to be de-ionised to prevent limescale. The battery operated engine is not as well designed for pushing along by hand as some other train sets. Our most safety conscious parents thought that saying steam can be safe was confusing for young children.

Tumble Time Tigger
Manufacturer Mattel
Age From 18 months
Price £26.95
iVillage star rating *
Buy online www.amazon.co.uk

Manufacturer/retailer says One of the most heavily promoted toys, Tumble Time Tigger makes it onto several top toy lists this Christmas. Tigger does full cartwheels and handstands. Tigger sings and talks as he tumbles and stops in a headstand. Clap or call his name to make him move.

We say The drawback with this toy is that in order to perform tricks, Tigger has a big, flat plate in his head and flat, hard plates on his feet. He is also hard in the middle where the motor that drives the movement is built. After the novelty of handstands wears off, there is not much our testers could do with Tumble Time Tigger.

Roboraptor
Manufacturer Character Options
Age From 8 years
Price £78.95
iVillage star rating *
Buy online www.amazon.co.uk

Manufacturer/retailer says The Toy Retailers Association voted this the No 1 robot this Christmas. Fluid biomechanical motion. Multi-sensor environmental awareness. Three distinct moods: hunter, cautious and playful. Demonstration mode.

We say Our testers strongly recommend not buying this toy. Despite being very good with XBox style controls, we had problems with the Roboraptor. It walks very slowly, if at all, and the mouth that is meant to bite did not work properly on our review model. The only things it ate were batteries - 3 x AAA for the remote and 6 x AA for the robot.