Customer Reviews

K'Nex Loopin' Lightning Coaster

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

My 4-year old son was upset with me last week cause I forgot to say goodbye to him or something silly when I dropped him off at daycare. To make it up to him I searched for some project we could do together and found this. Obviously it's way out of his age-range but he LOVES coasters and puzzles so I gave it a shot and it didn't disappoint. We built it together in about 6 hours, mostly it was me reading the excellent full-color picture instructions and telling him which pieces to find/connect and he got the hang of it quick. Seeing the final result and switching on the motor was very rewarding for him and he's telling anyone that'll listen about his coaster.

I'm giving it 5 stars but there are a couple things to be aware of with this model:

1. As stated in other k'nex reviews there are no extra pieces, be careful to not misplace anything, some are smaller than your fingernail. We ended up with one missing piece and a handful of random extras. I found our important missing piece by going to the store and picking up some little $3.00 K'Nex gizmo that had what we needed.

2. Why did they put two different black pieces in the same bag? The 100 or so chain links are mixed in with about 8 other black pieces of the same size. Arg...

3. Putting the track together is most frustrating part - track pieces need to bend and typically connect to main model with one tiny connector that often can't handle the strain until the full track is assembled. Once done though it's not a problem. My son was thrilled by the loop.

4. The chain - I swear I used the recommended number of links but I had to adjust it a little cause it kept slipping on the gear attached to the motor and falling out of the guides on the track. It still slips a little when hauling the cars up the track.

5. One of the cars inexplicably is faster than the other - so eventually it hits the other one just going up the chain and misses the chain itself. Oh well.

One nice thing is you can go online to [...] to find another plan for these parts, though it appears much smaller than this model. Since this is considered new in their product line I hope they publish more build plans.

I plan on getting more of these - it's fun for me too. :)

This was a gift that my five year old adores, but this review is from the parents perspective.

It took two high school honors students quite a while to assemble, so don't be in a hurry. The instructions are pretty fair, which is good considering the plethora of parts and the complexity of the build. Many of the parts are smaller than ordinary (older) K'Nex, so if you remember snapping these things together at a good clip, it ain't gonna happen here.

Once all together, it worked. For a while. But as the coasters zipped around time after time and parts worked loose, it stopped working so well. Coasters started stopping at the top, they failed to catch the chain for the ride up, and the chain started skipping like mad when the coasters were on it. I had to wire tie one of the track supports because it would not hold on to the track at all after several runs. Overall it literally required a couple of hours of re-engineering with the parts available to get it all to work passably again, and I really feel like I shouldn't have had to do that.

And, (again, from a parents perspective) what do you end up with once the fun (frustration?)of the building is over? Basically a modern re-invention of the old gravity-driven wooden marble races. Watch the coasters go up. Watch them come down. Watch them go up again. It's the definition of a passive play experience.

However, cats LOVE it.

I got this for my son (7) for Christmas, on a whim, because he had noticed it on a sweep of the K'nex aisle in Target about a year ago. I am over electronic games right now, and this was an extra "guilt" gift to mask the totally analogue Christmas. He built it yesterday, and it was a wonderful, challenging experience, and a huge success. It looks really cool when it's just running.

Cautions:
-The instructions are all visual. My son is a Lego veteran, and so is fairly confident about interpreting these images (which are like gibberish to me).

-When they say 7+, they really mean 7+. Otherwise, plan for a joint venture.

-The bendy track is somewhat fragile! I could see where the bendy track weakened from being disconnected roughly. It is soft plastic.

-Counting the chain links...ugh. I did that part.

Praises:
-It is a challenge that pays off. My son tried shortcuts when he thought he could, and used trouble shooting to figure out sticking points or flaws. There's definitely an "I did this!" factor to it, when it is up and running.

-Gravity is still kind of awesome, you have to admit.

-It's reusable! There are plans for additional configurations on the K'Nex website, and of course it can just go into the giant K'nex bin under the bed for free building.

-The process itself is valuable. After admiring the finished roller coaster, he moved right into "what happens if I...[run both cars together, move track, simulate crashes, run it backwards, tape figures/people onto the cars, etc]." Obviously a precursor to destruction, but lots of exploration along the way.

In short, it is an inexpensive kit, a fun way to spend time with your kid, and it provides a sense of accomplishment for the builder.

Length:: 0:28 Mins

When my parents bought this. I thought great, just what a grown adult man with 4 kids has time for 600+ pieces project to work on. But me and the kids enjoyed the time together. The direction were clear and easy to understand. The parts snapped together easy but also tight. Though, after running the coaster awhile a few pieces did pop off at times. As you can see from the video, they really were excited on the finish product...
I wish it had lights or glow in the dark... but that's minor.

Purchased this for my six year old son who loves these sorts of mechanical toys. The kit is rated for ages 9+ and is certainly warranted. I had to help quite a bit in the build. Part of that owes to the very complex directions that are hard for even an adult to decipher at times.

Plan to take several hours building this set. But thats really part of the fun for my son and me. The box advertises two different coasters can be built from this set. First problem, they don't actually provide two different sets of instructions. Instead you must go to their website and download the additional directions. The build sheets are all in color and many pages so make sure you have plenty of paper and toner before you start printing. Problem two, K'nex now requires registration for thier "club" to access incremental build instructions. Third problem, their website hasn't caught up with their sales cycle because once I went through the hassle of registering they only had two different builds available - for a kit we didn't buy. Considering they sell nine different coaster kits, to have only one additional build available online is quite misleading to the point of being fraudulent.

We've been very disappointed with the K'nex blocks lately so I was very skeptical as we were nearing completion of the coaster that it would be sturdy enough to run as advertised. But I have to say I was pleasantly surprised and my son was delighted. The coaster is fun to play with and watch for a long time. It's an impressive three feet seven inches tall which is not lost on a six year old.

The motor that pulls the chain runs on 2xAA batteries (of course not included). Two odd things here. First it took me several minutes to figure out how to insert the batteries so that I had the right polarity. It really shouldn't be that hard. Secondly, once the coaster is built the motor is in an odd position and would require you to disassemble a portion of the coaster to change the batteries. This last bit shouldn't really be an issue as you are likely to tear down and rebuild the kit a couple of times before needing a fresh set of batteries.

The kit provides ample teaching opportunities for the physical sciences to even a six year old.
He is begging to build the other coaster now, so I have to figure out how to do that from just a picture w/o directions. Overall we are very pleased with this set. It has helped somewhat to redeem K'nex in our eyes. The last several set of blocks we've purchased have been terrible. This is a step in the right direction.

Pros:
Fun to build
Impressive size
Fun to watch once completed

Cons:
Instructions can cause frustration
Misleading marketing
Odd battery arrangement

We are very familiar with K'nex as we have 5 children from 17 to 6. We purchased this coaster not realizing that the new "micro" K'nex , which comprise most of this set, are in fact very very tiny as compared to the larger version.
Just to give you an idea;
The longest rod (grey)in the larger k'nex is 7.5 inches long and 1/4 in diameter. The longest micro rod (blue) is 5 & 7/16 inches long with a minute 1/8 inch diameter.
The largest circular connector(white)in the larger K'nex is 1.5 inches in diameter 1/4 in. thick compared to the same piece in micro k'nex at 7/8 in. diameter and 1/8 in.thick.
The smallest rod in larger k'nex is 5/8 in. long by 1/4 in. diameter compared to micro at 1/2 in. by 1/8 in. diameter.
I give these measurements because I'd have liked this info myself before purchasing this set.

Points to note;
*This is not your typical sturdy K'nex construction.
*The micro pieces are small and tricky to put together.
*The instruction book is color coded only, no measurements.(was not a problem)
*The coaster itself once together needed tweeking to work properly. (educational)

Having said this my 10 year old put this together in about 4 hours but he's had LOTS of expereience with K'nex and Lego, although he found the micro pieces frustrating to work with. The kids had more fun (and learned a lot) trying to alter the track configuration after building the coaster.
I've always loved K'nex for their excellent quality and educational value (we currently have a 7.5ft tall K'nex ball factory under construction in my livingroom LOL). I can only think however the newer "micro" k'nex are an attempt to save money by having a cheaper quality product. Still this coaster has a lot of potential to teach following direction, excelleration, velocity, and lots more if you know what you're getting into. Enjoy

I always liked building toys as a kid and the loopin lighning doesn't dissapoint. It took my son about 4 hours to assemble and another couple to get working. You need to be very precise and lots of tinkerking to get the coaster to work but the education value is worth it.

The kit is made up of thin and thick rods...the thick ones are the major support rods and the thinner ones are for the hangers and extensions. By thin I refer to the rod size of the ball madness size pieces in relation to the ones found on this kit. Over all so far the kit works fine and tracks dont require much supporting as the ball madness ones which over time lead to the ball falling off. The cars however I was of the opinion would have been brighter ....they are no led on them and the rely on reflection to light....so bear this in mind if you planned on building this and running it in a dark room. Enjoyed building this with my 4 year old....who had some problems sticking the thicker pieces together....but all in all she loved it.Enjoy

This is a great entertaining toy! My boyfriend and I had a blast putting it together. In the directions the pictures are sometimes not close enough so it makes it a little hard to figure out which piece to use and where to put it. Overall if you like puzzles or putting things together, you will have a great time with this item.

I ordered this for my 9 year old son. He loves K'nex I thought it would be something generic and not the real deal. When it arrived it was the real thing. My son loves this toy. He does need a little help assembling it though but we don't mind at all and one more down fall is that there are many tiny pieces and you have to keep track of each of them.