Think of these little guys as tiny pint size amazons... they have an awesome personality and they are extremely intelligent. You can easily train them to do several cool tricks and they can also talk, they have a really high pitched voice but it does become understandable.
As for their needs, they do need a decent sized cage, 20" wide by 16" deep and 16" tall is about the smallest you'd want to house a parrotlet in where he would be comfortable, but the bigger the better, hight isn't as important as width tho so a long short cage is better than a narrow tall cage. They need stuff to chew and shred so lots of chew toys are appreciated as well as other type toys. I even put a foraging toy in Sprite's cage and he figured out how to get the food in less than a day.
Also, just like their bigger cousins, they do require a lot of attention and out of cage time, we let Sprite out for hours where he can fly around the room and he has several perches and other play gym type toys we hung from the ceiling so he stays plenty happy but he also loves to fly down to us for scritchies or a quick treat before flying back to his favorite perch.
We've had 2 other parrotlets and they all have their own distinct personalities but they are all very playful, cuddly, talkative, and very smart.
As for cost, they can go as low as $100 from a breeder or a craigslist ad etc, all the way to over $700 for the rare colors like solid white with dark eyes or some of the well patterned pieds etc... but expect to spend around $200 for a nice pretty one from most breeders. Remember, there's also the cost for food, toys, vet visits, and a good cage.
It really doesn't matter if you're a beginner bird owner or if you have experience handling and owning birds, these pint size parrots are excellent pets and companions, Out of all our birds, I definitely consider Sprite one of my favorites and let him sleep on my shoulder under my hair while watching tv after I put all the other birds up for the night... Yes, I do spoil him some..
