Remote Control Toys

I was at the mall the other day with my kids and I spotted a few people playing with a tiny remote control helicopter with twin rotors.

I was surprised at the control that it had, and even though they wouldn’t let customers play with them, I could buy them if I wanted to. I believe that the booth was overcharging customers for these toys, as I saw this one on the Syma site for fifty dollars less.

The Syma S026 Micro Chinook Cargo Transport 3 Channel Indoor RC RHelicopter is “the world’s smallest and lightest” and it is “designed for indoor flight only”.

The control is so good, that a similar device was used as a prop to play floating fairies in a performance of the classic William Shakespeare comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I’ve included a video of this after the jump if you want to see it for yourself.

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We’ve all seen puzzle dinosaurs made out of wood pieces before, but ThinkGeek takes things to the next level with their range of R/C Wooden Puzzle Dinosaurs! While they come with less parts than a real dinosaur skeleton counterpart, it will definitely freak your friends out as they see it move around, making them do a double take and pinch themselves as they look around your home to see if other miniatures have a life of their own ala Night at the Museum.

First you must assemble of course, but once you’ve jacked in the included motors and electronics you’re ready to rumble. Not only can you control your dino’s movements via remote, he (or she) roars and reacts to sound.

There are three play modes to choose from – demo, free and R/C mode. You will require a mix of AA and AAA batteries for the whole thingamajic to work with each other, where you can choose from the T-rex or stegosaurus models for $39.99 a pop.

Some people have this astounding ability to take a bowling ball and actually knock down all of the pins.  For those of us that don’t have that ability, there’s finally the RC900.  It’ll make sure those pesky bowling pins finally get knocked down where they belong.  This bowling ball is controlled by a remote and is easily able to dodge all kings of obstacles, like the gutter for example.

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Any toy that teaches kids about alternative energy in a way that makes it fun for them is definitely okay in my book.  I’ve seen some that are kits and a bit more complicated.  Honestly, I think that this car is one of the best approaches I’ve seen.  It goes for the subtle angle, it’s a fun remote control car and doesn’t need a single battery to run.

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Dads who are thinking about what to surprise kids with this coming Christmas might actually end up getting the PicoZ Heli Mission for themselves (using their kids as an ulterior motive so that the wife can approve of the gifts budget).

This groundbreaking R/C mash up combines the thrill of helicopter flight with the excitement of driving a SWAT truck. Wow! It might look like a stealthy brute of a vehicle – and it is – but this macho truck features a cavernous cargo bay that opens up, upon your command, to reveal a fully-functioning micro helicopter sitting on an auto-elevating launchpad. Incredible! It’s like Thunderbirds meets Airwolf with a highly Hasselhoffian touch of 80s folly thrown in for good measure. Both precision-engineered machines are controlled via a single transmitter with smart shoulder buttons that allow you to switch seamlessly between truck and chopper.

It will take some fair bit of hand-eye co-ordination to keep on alternating between the two as you plan an imaginary assault on the enemy base. One thing though – what happens when the helicopter is in mid-air and you switch over to the truck? Will it just hover there until the subsequent instruction? Guess you’ll need to fork out £59.95 to find out!

Want to own what is touted to be the smallest flying R/C device to date? The Mini HoverDrone is your cup of tea then, where it will impress virtually anyone who lays eyes upon it. Boasting a diameter that won’t surpass that of a silver dollar by much, you get a lone propeller at the bottom that helps it hover in the air, spinning and flashing its blue LED to attract attention simultaneously. A simple slider control makes way for up-and-down movement, making it a snap for virtually anyone to control it in an instant. $19.99 is the asking price for this small miracle.

For those of you who are interested in that extra scare for this Halloween might want to invest in the i-Fly Vamp.

This is exactly what you think it is, a toy bat that can be remote-controlled. It is about 13 grams in weight and has a ten inch wingspan to fly like an ornithopter. The i-Fly Vamp comes with an extra pair of wings.

The Vamp has a lightweight rechargeable Lithium Polymer flight battery that is capable of ten minutes of flight time for every half hour’s worth of charging. The controller requires 6 AA batteries to operate.

It even has some eerie green LED eyes for a little extra shock value. Just imagine the trick or treaters coming to your house with this guy!

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This is something your mom (or anyone else suffering from ophidiophobia for that matter) would definitely scream the moment they see it – the RC Snake which is a vast improvement over the traditional rubber snake toys that kids used to try to fool their parents with.

It moves like the real thing, has scaley skin like the real thing, a flickering tongue like the real thing and it even has a terrifying rattle like the real thing. Because it’s radio-controlled, you can look all innocent while unassuming colleagues get terrorised by this realistic faux-predator. Its design is based on the largest and most dangerous real-life rattlesnake, the Eastern Diamondback, so the likeness is pretty remarkable, and the body is made up of segments, making the movement convincingly slithery.

Not too sure what kind of hiding kids would get when they try to fool their parents with this £29.99 device, but it ought to generate a fair number of laughs from the office.