Very Cool!!!!
I didn't think to review these until we lost the bottom plate to one of the cars during a battery change in the car and I called their 800 number. The lady who answered was a big help and it was easy to get a replacement to us in the mail.
My 12 year old bought a twin pack of these from the store a few days before Thanksgiving. Our friends and family loved playing with them while the grown-ups got the meal together and then later during clean up. The controls are easy to work and the lasers are tricky to figure out for some at first but it's very fun to learn how and outfox your opponent. After a little practice you'll be firing out of high speed 180 turns.
When the car is first hit the "shield levels" (lights on top of the cars) are lowered something we can't make out is said on the car's speaker and the vehicle stops movement for about 3 seconds. The second hit lowers the shield levels further something else is said and it jams the car movement again. The third hit wipes out the shield levels and the car speeds out of control emitting a crash sound before dying. Pretty cool really. The kids don't have to argue over who won what point and the people waiting for their turns know when the game is over.
There is a switch on the bottom of the cars that will put the car into autopilot if you are alone with two cars but it's more for practice in that it won't fire on you.
The cars don't go fast enough to do much physical damage when they crash and they seem to be holding up much better than the huge monster trucks that we've gotten in the past. Maybe it's because it's a tag more than a racing type set up.
The control range is about 15 to 20 feet. We had a small worry about the cars going out of control near the pool on Thanksgiving but we just put a hose before the edge that the cars were only able to make it over once. Maybe twice. Will not work well if at all on grass or carpet. Excellent for a wood floor hallway or sidewalk.
The battery use is pretty good for an RC car. Each car takes 4 AA batteries that last a couple hours easy. Each remote takes a 9 volt. We use rechargeable batteries to save money in the long run. It gives both the kids and the cars a nice break.
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