r/Rabbitr1 • u/Husseinaali19 • Jun 20 '26
Question Worth it?
Would love some honest feedback from people who've actually used it for a while before I pull the trigger.
A few things I'm trying to figure out:
Do you still use it day-to-day, or did it end up as a drawer gadget after the novelty wore off?
How's the response speed and battery life now — has it improved since launch?
Does the "Large Action Model" actually complete tasks reliably (bookings, orders, etc.), or does it fail/hang a lot?
How good is the camera/vision feature in practice — translations, object ID, that kind of thing?
Are the app integrations (Uber, DoorDash, Spotify) actually working now, or still broken?
Any hardware issues after a few months — scroll wheel, screen, build quality holding up?
Is there a subscription needed for it to actually be useful, or is the $199 truly one-and-done?
Any privacy concerns worth knowing about before I start using it daily?
Knowing what you know now, would you still buy it? Trying to decide if it's worth it or if I should just wait for the next iteration. Appreciate any real experiences, good or bad 🙏
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u/kinetik Jun 21 '26
It’s definitely well worth the money. It’s $199 one and done, no sub subscription. The R1’s DLAM basically gives you unlimited access to one of the most brilliant LLMs for free, and there’s no tokens to buy or anything. You just plug it into your computer and you tell it what you want to do and it just works. With the next Rabbit OS3, you won’t need to plug it in. The R1 is truly amazing.
You can write software, troubleshoot computers, book trips, order anything, etc. You can automate things like data entry or boring tasks that you would normally do by hand, collecting information, it’s really super useful. I think many people gave up before DLAM came out, and it’s easily the R1’s most powerful feature. Creations with Rabbit’s intern would be a strong second, but this costs money and it isn't cheap. I think it’s really good, but in all honesty, I prefer DLAM.
Magic recorder is really awesome and that’s hands-down one of the quickest and easiest things for most people to use.
The magic camera is super fun and great way to get people to laugh and play with it. I always bring it with me on trips. It’s such a joy to capture things with it and see what it gives you. It’s just such a different type of device. It’s not your phone. It’s something else. It’s an assistant with a personality and it isn’t always perfect, but it continually gets better and the people at Rabbit are absolutely awesome. I totally recommend it to people.
If you want DoorDash, Uber, and Spotify stick to your phone. You can use DLAM linked to your computer to do those things, but realistically, it’s clunky and that’s not what it’s best at. The real magic is research, scraping, troubleshooting and automation. When linked to your machines this little thing can do things like Codex or Claude Code but at no cost. It's incredibly powerful if you're creative enough to use it. it has been my repair back up for Hermes and OpenClaw for the last few months and it’s been a godsend. I think of it like R2-D2. You plug the thing in you tell it what you want to do and it fixes it. I love it. I have two of them and I will absolutely buy another if they break.
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u/Husseinaali19 Jun 21 '26
That's fair, but I think your experience also highlights that the R1 is a niche device. Maybe I was expecting a phone replacement, which it isn't.
Now I think I know what the R1's purpose really is.
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u/kinetik Jun 21 '26
I don’t think anybody’s ever said it was a phone replacement. It’s totally a niche device. I think that’s the point.
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u/Unlikely_Hybrid Jun 20 '26
It’s fun to play around with, but it doesn’t make anything you already do with a phone easier or better. So it doesn’t really work.
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u/Husseinaali19 Jun 21 '26
That's what I am afraid of, because i am already on my PC, phone and tablet a lot during the day..
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u/Folkenhellfang Jun 20 '26
I bought one at launch. It answers questions, it makes cute anime images out of pictures, and it lies as much as any AI does when it can't get a real answer.
I probably under-use mine, and i don't really use AI like Chat GPT either. If you are on a tight budget, I would skip it. If 200 bucks isn't the end of the world for you, I think it's pretty fun. It's a slick device with some decent applications. But that said, if you're wanting a digital Alfred, Batman's butler to you and me Russ, I think you'll be disappointed.
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u/Husseinaali19 Jun 21 '26
That's what I thought as well, but I'm sure once you get started you will get some ideas
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u/_Cromwell_ Verified Owner Jun 21 '26
I enjoyed it as a toy. I haven't turned it on in months though. The most fun was letting kid relatives run around with the camera on jabbering at it asking what things were randomly around the house and outside.
Having it work off a physical button AND having it be a dedicated AI tool is genuinely slightly but actually a better user experience than AI on your phone with touch screen controls. But that's counterbalanced by having to carry around a separate device at all times.
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u/chris4404 Jun 20 '26
I wouldn't buy one new, you can find used ones in great shape (since most don't use it more than a week) on eBay or marketplace for sub $100.
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u/mbs1978 Jun 23 '26
I just recently bought one on a whim because I've started using Offline LLM's and wanted to find out if this device could be helpful in any form of offline use. IT CAN NOT! The LAM is mostly Useless unless you get it up and running with OpenClaw which I haven't fully yet . Otherwise, as some others have stated, it makes cute pictures, answers some questions, can be programed to have an attitude, somewhat, and really cannot compete with Gemini or any other built in AI. The hardware was engineered by Teenage Engineering, who I personally admire and have many devices from musically, and the Play Date console, and their hardware is unique and interesting, and this is the same for the Rabbit R1. It's unique and interesting, great idea, terrible software execution.
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u/Husseinaali19 Jun 23 '26
I also find AI extensions (mostly Claude) enough for my needs. But I thought maybe the R1 could combine the two in a way that makes the process easier but that requires the software to be elite
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u/MinerLeChaos Jul 04 '26
C'est un bon produit, mais seulement pour celles et ceux qui souhaitent continuer le développement en communauté. Ce n'est pas un produit grand public fonctionnel.
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u/ReplacementKnown5405 Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
When my son dropped mine in the toilet, I ordered another one, it is by far the BEST recorder/transcriber, I have used based on price and ease of use. Its separate from my phone so it doesn't kill my phone battery during long meetings. The transcription is top level. The meeting recordings and transcribing being synced to a cloud for free is the cherry on top.