Customer Reviews

23" Balaenoptera Musculus Radio Remote Control Racing Boat (colors may vary)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(25)

 

 

This is a very fun, fast little boat. I am enjoying it very much. Easy to put together (battery pack, install the antenna mast (a plastic tube), and screw in the antenna on the sending unit.) It goes fast and is easy to control.

Controls are very simple, really just two switches: left engine one/off and right engine on/off. The control box has: go, forward on the left control and right or left turn on the right control. The left control switches both engine to full on (no throttle control, just full-on/off) and the right control shuts off one engine or the other (left or right), to turn. It turns quite tightly (without a rudder.) But by "pulsing" the left or right control, you can make the boat execute broader turns. It gets up and planes almost instantly. It's quite fast. At the beginning of a full charge, it might be doing the advertised 25 mph. 15 mph is more like it most the time.

The good: Price! Runs well, easy to use, seems to have good RF range, fast, tough hull, ships very little water. Be sure to pour out the water and leave it open to dry out between runs.

The negative: Short battery life. I'd guess I'm getting 15 minutes of operation with a full charge. It takes about 5 hours to charge. I have been looking for spare battery packs and couldn't find any. I ended up buying parts and I will be making my own battery packs (try BatterySpace.com and Radical RC online.) Runs on a set of 6 standard "Sub C" cells, wired in series, with a shrink wrap around it and a connector used for Tamiya RC cars. The RC hand unit requires 8 AA cells.

This boat is fast! I purchased it for my 9 year old son for Christmas and he loves it. The boat is extremely fast, with nice sharp turns, responds to the controller immediately. Highly recommend this RC boat. Durable too, as one time the propellers got caught in some plastic netting, we got it free and nothing was broken or damaged. Seller is excellent to deal with. Only negative on this boat: the battery. Battery loses charge each time you use it and it only gives you about 30 minutes play time before it runs low.

I was looking for a boat for a friendly family race over the 4th of July. Did not want to spend a bunch of money on it, and some calls to local hobby shops were very discouraging. Based on the positive review I saw here, I took a chance and ordered it.

Wow... the boat is quick. Do not expect to use this in a kiddie pool. The boat can only go forward, and turns by cutting power to one of the two props. Don't lets its turning method discourage you I was shocked at how tight the turns were. I would estimate a turning radius of 2 feet or so.

The only down side is the charge time vs play time, but even then it is great fun and well worth it. And yes I kicked everyone's tail at our race ;-)

I bought this boat for my husband to drive around our back yard swimming pool. He and my grown son love it! It is FAST!! I had a question about the antenna and e-mailed the company and they got back to me immediately. Then I had a question about the battery charger and they were responsive right away and offered to send me an additional charger. The boat is fun and fast and the company selling it really backs up their product. You can order this knowing that if you have any problems or questions, you are not on your own, the company will be there to help.

I've read a lot of people on here having the same problem with this boat that I had...the motor cuts in and out. At first I thought it was a problem with the circuit completing, so I attached a wire between the two copper propeller rods, but I still had the same result. Then I realized, maybe the motors are fine, the problem is they are not receiving the signal to activate. Lo and behold, that was the problem. If you are having the same problem as I was, your boat is fine. The problem is in the remote control. The remote control comes apart very easily, it's just 6 screws that hold it in place (remember to also remove the QC sticker on the bottom). Crack that sucker open and then you will see one small screw that holds the circuit board in place. Unscrew that and take out the board. If your remote is like mine, the antenna wire will fall right out of the board. There's the problem, the signal is not reaching the antenna. All you have to do is remove some of the solder from the underside of the board so the hole is open for the antenna wire. Then just stick the antenna wire all the way through the hole, melt some of the leftover solder onto the wire so it is firmly in place, and voila, your boat will now work perfectly.

I really went crazy with this boat trying to figure out the problem and RCToyVillage was how should I say....less than helpful. The good news is if your boat doesn't work, this 5 minute fix may very well get it to function properly. All you need is a soldering iron, you don't even need any extra solder. Shame on the manufacturer for letting this issue go, but with a Chinese factory, what are you gonna do? Maybe they aren't going to take over the world after all if they can't even get a remote control boat right! Anyway, I hope my little fix helps some of you that are experiencing this frutrating problem.

...I would give this thing a better rating had it actually 'worked'... The deal is...when I FINALLY got to a place to use it (shallow bay with little current) it ran JUST long enough to get out of my reach, then quit. Fortunately the current, slowly, brought it to shore as I slipped along moss covered debris trying to get to it... I messed around with wires a little bit and tried again...only this time in a pool (as I wasn't ready to loose it quite yet...after 3 minutes of drive time). It ran on & off in the pool...so that's better than just stopping. Maybe I 'did something' when moving the wires around inside...I could tell it would be a lot of fun if it didn't keep cutting out. I haven't had the time to get back with the company about it. It IS fast (when it runs) and does turn on a dime...but mine has a problem. Hopefully yours wont. When I first powered it up I didn't realize that you had to touch both copper drive shaft tubes with your fingers in order for the circuit to be completed (as a safety measure)to make the motors run when OUTside of water. The water completes the circuit otherwise. There are two motors & they give you two extra props. It is powerful...when I set it down in the pool it sprayed water all over me when it took off. Good points if I ever get it to work properly. A swimming pool is a bit small to use it in but a good place to test it so you don't have to go swimming if you have the same experience I did.

I bought this for my niece last Christmas. She's been having a blast with it ever since. Plenty of range, great speed, and you can tell when the battery is dying so you can get the boat back to shore before it dies.

Many reviews criticize the "short" battery life. Honestly, that's just the nature of the beast with RC cars, boats, and whatever. Anything longer than 15 minutes of full use is on the good side, and this boat delivers there.

This is a great boat. My boys and I run it around the swimming pool and it's very fast and maneuverable. They slam it into the sides of the pool regularly and it withstands the beating just fine, at least so far. The boat does not go in reverse (at least mine doesn't), despite having a reverse button on the controller, which is a little odd. It's still plenty of fun though, going forward.

My one big gripe is that the battery that comes with it is a 7.2v 1800mAh battery, which is underkill for the motors in the boat. The result is 5 hours of waiting for the batteries to charge for 20 minutes of playtime. That kind of charge to play ratio is a bit of a bummer. Do yourself a favor and buy a 4000+ mAh battery (or two) and a 'fast charger' if you buy the boat so that you can have some real fun with it.

I own many RC boats in various sizes and styles and was skeptical about this purchase based on the low price. I was very impressed to discover internal props on the drive shafts to cool the motors.

When I first tossed this in the water I was very impressed with the speed but my I was totally sold watching how quickly it turned. This has the tightest turning radius of any of my boats and is the most fun to run.

One precautionary note: I had a collision right of the bat when testing this against a friend's boat and it knocked the battery loose. The shape of the batter is different than all my other boats and it seems top heavy. The battery flopped around the interior of the boat and broke those internal props that had so impressed me... so a little duct tape or quick check after a collision or jump might be recommended.

I purchased this for my son's birthday. I read the reviews and saw horrible and positive ones. Here is our experience...

First time in the water, the boat ran fine for 5 minutes and then the battery became low. We brought the boat up and I was preparing to put in the second battery I purchased due to reports of low battery life. While my son was taking the top of the boat off to allow access to the battery, one propeller began to spin wildly and, even though I turned the boat off internally and the remote was off, the propeller continued to spin. THEN the motor began to smoke and caught on fire. I quickly unhooked the battery in the boat. All of this occurred within a 10 second period of time.

Words cannot describe my disgust for this toy. It is a hazard, very dangerous, and should not be sold to children in my opinion. Fortunately, I was there when this occurred and was able to get my son away from the boat - if this had happened indoors without someone being there to deal with the situation, we probably would have had a big fire. BUYER BEWARE!!!!