Amazon Fire Tablet 7 vs Fire Tablet Kids Edition – Which Should you Buy?

If you’re searching for a cost-effective tablet for the family, what should you choose? A Amazon Fire Tablet 7 or a Fire Tablet Kids Edition? Do you buy a normal Fire tablet and restrict access through settings or buy a dedicated children’s version with all the hard work done for you? Which makes most sense?

Amazon Fire Tablets are a very good buy for basic use like surfing the internet, watching movies, playing some games and so on. For not a lot of money you get a good screen, decent hardware and access to the Amazon ecosystem of apps and Prime Movies. As the Amazon Fire Tablet 7 is a best-seller, let’s compare that model to the Fire 7 Kids Edition Tablet. Both will be the 16GB version.

The Amazon Fire Tablet

The Fire 7 Tablet is $69.99 and has 16GB of storage, a colorful 7” display, 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM and up to 8 hours of battery life

The Fire 7 Kids Edition Tablet is currently $99.99 and comes with 16GB of storage which is upgradeable to 256GB. It also comes with a Kid-Proof case, a colorful 7” display, 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM and up to 8 hours of battery life.

On paper the Amazon Fire Tablet 7 and Fire Tablet Kids Edition are the same under the skin. As far as I can tell it’s the same processor, storage options and hardware throughout the device so there is very little to choose from judging by specs alone.

However, the Fire 7 Kids Edition Tablet comes with a bunch of features that add serious value.

Amazon Special Offers

One thing that is easy to overlook is the option to select an Amazon Fire Tablet 7 with or without Special Offers. Essentially this is advertising that is hardcoded into the lock screen and many tablet notifications. Buy a tablet with Special Offers and it’s $69.99. Buy one without Special Offers and the price increases to $84.99, an increase of $15 just to live without the ads.

The Fire 7 Kids Edition Tablet has no option for Special Offers and does not come with advertising built in.

As most sensible people are going to opt for the model without Special Offers, the price differential is now reduced to $15 between the Amazon Fire Tablet 7 and Fire Tablet Kids Edition.

The Kid-Proof Case

For that extra fifteen bucks you get a Kid-Proof Case and some other goodies. The case is a solid foam, all-encompassing case that should protect the tablet from just about anything your kids could throw at it. Buy it separately and it’s between $15-30 depending on what offers are going on at the time.

As this adds to the survivability of the Fire 7 Kids Edition Tablet, it is well worth the extra.

2 Year no-quibble guarantee

As well as the Kid-Proof Case, buy the Fire 7 Kids Edition Tablet and you get a 2 year no-fuss guarantee. Amazon promises to replace the tablet for a new one whatever may happen to it. There is some small print but the guarantee looks genuine. This is only available on the Fire 7 Kids Edition.

Other perks for the Fire 7 Kids Edition

The Fire 7 Kids Edition Tablet comes with FreeTime Unlimited which adds a bunch of kids content for free. FreeTime is available on all Fire tablets but is limited. FreeTime Unlimited is a subscription service that offers access to thousands of pieces of content including cartoons, movies, TV shows, music, books, apps and a lot more. You get the first year free.

The Fire 7 Kids Edition also comes with a special browser that has been designed specifically for safe use by kids. While the parental controls on all Fire tablets are pretty good, this browser adds more peace of mind.

Amazon Fire Tablet 7 vs Fire Tablet Kids Edition – Which should you buy?

While this piece has so far been overwhelmingly in favor of the Fire Tablet Kids Edition, that isn’t the whole story. Much depends on the use it will be put to. If you’re buying purely for your kids, it makes perfect sense to pay the extra $15 for the case, guarantee, FreeTime Unlimited and kid-specific features.

If it’s going to be a shared tablet, between older kids or adults and younger children, it doesn’t make quite so much sense. Parental controls on all Fire devices is very effective. If you’re an Amazon Prime member you get access to a ton of content anyway and get discounts on cases. If you’re going to be using it, the child-friendly design is going to annoy you after a while.

If it were me, I would buy the Fire Tablet Kids Edition all day long if it were for use by young children. It makes perfect sense. If older kids or I wanted to use it, I would go for the Fire Tablet 7 if only to keep my own sanity while using it.

What would you go for and why? Tell us about it below!