I love robots and remote control toys and Trekbot is both. He comes to us from Desk Pets, the makers of Skitterbot as well as other fun remote controlled toys. The irony is that these things are so fast that they’re much better suited for use on a floor rather than a desk. My review subject nearly escaped, but I pinned him down for some quick photos and video.
Trekbot Features
Like Skitterbot, Trekbot’s remote has a few button batteries that it runs on and the bot itself recharges via a cable from the remote. To charge the bot, you plug the remote’s cable into the bot and insert the retractable USB end of the remote into your computer’s USB port. Charging time is said to be about 30 minutes for about 15 minutes of play time, but mine took only about 15 minutes to fully charge out of the box. When the Trekbot is not charging, the usb plug retracts into the remote.
On the remote are four directional buttons to make Trekbot spin left or right or move forward or in reverse. In addition, there is a center button to stop movement completely. The cool thing about this bot – other than it’s pulsating blue eyes – is that no matter how bad you are at directing it, it won’t flip over. It’s hubless design lets the body of the Trekbot flip while the wheels stay in place, always keeping its little plastic mo-hawk pointed up.
Controlling Trekbot is a little harder than controlling Skitterbot for two reasons. First, it’s simple one-at-a-time control means you’re either moving or turning, but not both at the same time. This means that if you get off track, you have to hit the right or left button to correct the angle and then very quickly jump back to the forward or reverse motion. Alternatively, you can stop movement, turn the bot, and then start again, but turning gets tricky at that speed. I’m sure a little more practice wouldn’t hurt, though. This is actually the exact same as how Skitterbot is controlled, but Trekbot is just a little trickier to get pointed in the right direction sometimes.
Trekbot comes in 4 colors and each has its own frequency. This means that if you and friends want to battle and race as the packaging suggests, you’ll want to be sure to have different colored bots.
Trekbot In Action
Starting around $13, this is a great little toy for anyone, including yourself. It’s fun to play with and even more fun if you have pets that will chase it with curiosity. If I were to buy one in the store, though, it would have to be the black one. What color would you choose?
I’ve had a lot of fun reviewing RC toys in the past, and the Swann Micro Hornet R/C helicopter I received was no exception. From what’s in the box to price to how easy it is to fly, I’ll introduce you to one of my newest toys in this review.
When I opened up the packaging, I found the Micro Hornet, a remote control unit, a spare set of main rotor blades, and a screwdriver to open up the battery compartment on the remote control. I like when the manufacturer includes that little screwdriver. It’s just enough to get the job done and I hate getting all excited about a toy, opening it up, and then having to hunt around for tools first. The helicopter came fully assembled and just needed a quick charge (about 30 minutes) to get up in the air. These small indoor helicopters charge pretty quickly but only give you about five to eight minutes of flying time on a charge. For anything else, that might be a problem, but for a beginner toy like this, five minutes is just about enough time for a little practice session. Also in the box was a USB charging cable so you don’t have to use up the batteries in the controller between flights and, of course, the user’s manual.
How To Fly The Hornet
If you’ve never flown an R/C helicopter before, the idea of it can be a bit menacing, even for an easy one like this. Unlike R/C cars, you’re in the air, untethered. If you mess up, it could crash to the ground, smashing into bits. That’s what I thought, anyway. When I got it in the air, it wasn’t long before it came back down, a few times, but took no damage at all. This durable little helicopter took a few falls from me. It was also easier to maneuver than other R/C choppers I piloted. Like every helicopter I’ve flown, steering is the easy part and the hard part is applying just the right amount of finesse to the controls to keep from hitting the ceiling without plummeting to the ground. It only took a few practices to get that down, though. The controls on this were more complicated than other R/C helicopters, offering movement in six directions: up, down, forward, backward, left, right. The additional control took a little longer to get comfortable with, but ultimately made smooth flight easier to accomplish.
Specifications
Rotor Diameter – 4.5″ / 115mm
Dimensions – 5.5″ x 4.5″ x 2.75″ (Including rotors)
Weight – 0.53 oz / 15g (Helicoptor only)
Helicopter Battery – Built-in 3.7V 130mAh Li-poly
Remote Control – Infrared
Remote Control Batteries – 6 x AA
Conclusions
Priced around $35-$50, the Swann Micro Hornet is a great entry level R/C helicopter for anyone who has ever wanted to try flying one. It’s tiny enough to fly in a small room comfortably but offers all the controls to get smooth flying down to an art. You’ll need to pick up a 6 pack of batteries before you can have any fun, though. This helicopter is priced higher than the last one I reviewed, but seemed a bit more durable and includes more advanced controls. If you don’t mind paying a little more, you’ll get what you pay for with the Micro Hornet.
Everyone loves toys. Better still, toys that are remote controlled. Even better still, flying R/C toys. Still just a big kid, I was excited to put the S107G Mini Gyro R/C Helicopter from XenonProject.com to the test.
The S107G came in a long box which included the helicopter, remote control, USB charging cable, and a manual. The six AA batteries required for the remote control were not provided but easy enough to come up with. The helicopter came pre-charged and ready for flight. After using up the 6-7 minutes of flying time, I had to fully charge it for about an hour before getting to play again. The flying time was a little less than a helicopter I previously reviewed and the charging time was about the same. This helicopter is also much more sturdy, making it more comfortable to crash. The controller felt much lighter than expected, perhaps even a little cheap. It even has a 3-position labeled switch that only really has two positions to set it to. This, however, was of little concern to me as it worked fine and the helicopter is the piece that stands to take all the abuse, not the controller.
Learning To Fly
Even though the manual has some decent instructions on how to fly an R/C helicopter, it is definitely an acquired skill. As you may be able to tell from the video below, it can start out rough, but gets better with practice. The S107G was surprisingly easier to control and priced lower than the other R/C helicopter I own. Although the flight time is a little less, I got more out of it because less of it was crashing time.
In the video, I practiced turning and landing, even crash-landing the S107G in a 10×10 inch box. Watch the video to get a better feel for the experience.
Conclusions
$24.99 (web price) for the S107G feels like a steal for a nice starter R/C helicopter, making it a great gift for kids big and small. In fact, XenonProject has a lot of comfortably-priced R/C toys on the site. For a good helicopter at a good price this is an easy win.
Once in a while I come across something that is not only worthy of a positive review, but also gentle on your wallet. At about $20 for a cool little electronic toy, this is one of those products.
What you’re looking at is the Skitterbot by Desk Pets. It’s a little remote controlled critter that is a lot of fun without being too complicated.
Skitterbot Features
The picture above makes Skitterbot look a little more sleek than it does in person. Up close, it just looks like a little plastic toy but what it lacks in style it makes up in fun. When activated, the Skitterbot moves it’s six tiny legs incredibly fast. This moves the little guy around at about a foot a second. The included five button remote gives you the control to move it in any direction. Plug the remote in to charge your Skitterbot for 30 minutes and you get about 15 minutes of play. The ratio of charging time to play time has room for improvement, but 15 minutes is probably fine for a toy of this nature. The four different color choices also have different frequencies so you can make them interact and create Bug Battle 2011.
How Skitterbot Works
Out of the box, the Skitterbot needs to be charged before the fun can begin. Unfortunately, it didn’t charge over a USB cable I had plugged into my computer, but if you plug it in directly it charges quickly. In fact, it seemed to charge much faster than the advertised 30 minutes. The USB connector pops out of the remote when you need to charge it up and retracts when you don’t. The remote also includes a cable to plug into the Skitterbot so it will charge up.
To move the Skitterbot around, you just press any of the five buttons on the remote. Four are for directions and the fifth is to make it stop. The controls have memory, so you can just hit a directional button once instead of holding it to keep it going in that direction. To get a better idea of it, take a look at the video below.
I took my green Skitterbot over to my nephew to play with and he and everyone else loved it.
Win A Skitterbot
If you want a Skitterbot of your own, you’re in luck. I have a red Skitterbot waiting for one lucky winner and it’s easy to enter. Any of the following will earn you an entry:
- Tweet “Retweet to win a @deskpets Skitterbot from @JoeTech : http://lnk.gd/skitterbots” (You must be following @joetech and post a link here to your tweet to win)
- Post “Win a DeskPets Skitterbot from JoeTech.com : http://lnk.gd/skitterbots” on Facebook (You must post a link here to your facebook update to win)
- Comment on this post, telling us what you will do with your Skitterbot if you win.
Entries will be accepted until 02.19.2011. Winner will be chosen at random and announced here. Contest is open to residents of U.S. and Canada only.
