Stacyc vs Grommy

My kids are too old to have taken advantage of powered balance bikes, but I did get my son a Strider when he was little. I definitely recommend something of the sort, as training wheels on a bicycle are bad. (Bad-ish. Let's face it; most of us started on training wheels, and we turned out OK.)

Here are some of the positives and negatives I saw with a Strider.
Positive:
-My kid never needed training wheels.
-Within weeks, he was gliding around, feet up, no problems.
-It made learning to ride a motorcycle very easy.

Negative:
-It took a long time to get him used to riding a pedal bike. He couldn't pedal the thing for a long time, and instead kept trying to push it with his feet.
-He took his feet off the pedals to slow down Fred Flinstone-style instead of using the brakes.


Depending on your kid, you might find that the powered balance bike is great or that it might be a problem. I could imagine the power being a bit difficult for a first-time rider to handle. Or not.
I see the powered balance bike as sort of an introduction to motorcycling and the standard push-style as an introduction to bicycling. I think both have a place.