Customer Reviews

Kid Galaxy Morphibians Rover (Colors May Vary)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

My 4 year-old son just received the Morphibian Rover for Christmas, and so far he and I have had a ton of fun playing with it. The "tank drive" mechanism means that the two joysticks on the remote drive the left and right wheels respectively, which in a way is more intuitive than the usual forward/back and left/right sticks you find on other cars. He's getting pretty good at it, although the turning can be baffling when the the car is heading toward you rather than away.

Right off the bat I noticed two things:
1) The car takes AA batteries, but the remote takes AAA. Odd, but not really a problem. The car, being amphibious, hides the battery compartment under two covers, with a rubber seal on the inside one and (cleverly) only two screws to undo. So far battery life has been good, but with the amount of use we've given it in only two days I keep expecting them to conk.

2) The drive mechanism has a stutter to it. Perhaps this is only our car, or weak batteries, but it's annoying - the car lunges forward in an uneven motion. It only really smooths out when going backwards for a few seconds.

After using it on both land and water (sink and bathtub), I noticed one other thing that keeps me from rating it too highly. While you can drive both left and right sides in the *same* direction simultaneously, it's not designed to drive them in the *opposite* direction at the same time. Which means that there's no rapid pivoting in place to turn, but instead a fairly wide turning radius while one side drives forward or backwards. I'm sure they did this to avoid wear and tear on the motors, but it's unfortunate - spinning in place is one of the great advantages of tank drive. I should know, I teach high school robotics and we design bots to do this all the time - very maneuverable.

The car's durability has been good - it survived a fall from countertop to tile floor tonight with no ill effects. Maneuverability on land is very good, in water less so, though it scoots pretty well in the forward direction due to the clever wheel treads. Lots of water gets into the housing though, and for a long time afterward it's still dripping out. I wouldn't submerge it for very long either, although I would hope the motors are as well-sealed as the battery compartment.

We haven't tested the outdoors range, it being very wintry outside at the moment, but indoors it seems fine. You don't expect a ton of range on a car this inexpensive anyhow. The remote is basic but good enough, although it has no off switch so it shouldn't be stored in a toy bin where the joysticks can be activated, draining the batteries.

Overall, I rate this as a very good RC car for small children - the amphibious feature makes it a great choice for summer play especially, in pools or deep puddles or perhaps weed-free ponds. I'd be interested to see how the bigger, more powerful models do in water.

My daughter likes to push buttons, still at age 6. This remote controlled car is very durable and offers a great opportunity to push buttons. We haven't tried it in water yet, but plan to soon. It took her a short while to figure out how to control the car. Inserting the battery in the car was a bit of challenge because the screw is so deep in the back of the car it required a long thin handle screwdriver to lossen the screw.

I bought this during Christmas 08 and it was lying in my room for a long time. I presented this to my nephew during this summer and he spent a whole month with it. I would call this very durable with the hard outer shell and it is very likely that most kids would not break this for about 6 months.

We had a lot of fun playing with this toy all over the place and also in the bath and this toy is really DURABLE and is a lot of fun to play with.

At the end of the month, we tried it in the beach and obviously the big toy broke.

The battery life is quite average, since this toy is very BIG and is not suited for small kids.

You may want to pick up something smaller (its called a shark) for smaller boys [4-5 years] - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006LCK9W?ie=UTF8&tag=theipoandiphf-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0006LCK9W

I purchased this for my grandson. He had so much fun with it in and out of the creek. I would recommend this product, but don't forget to get rechargeable batteries!

This car worked as advertised. It drives around the house, runs into things and just keeps going. I have not tested it in water or rough terrain. This product works fine for children who might be rough with a product. The toy has worked well for several months and I would buy again if I needed a gift or toy for another family member.

I purchased this RC car for my two-year-old as a replacement for a Tonka RC car. The Tonka was more expensive but seemed indestructable. After ceasing to work for apparently no reason, my theory was proven incorrect.

I thought this car would be a perfect replacement. Amazon has the best price I've found. Locally, they are $[...]!!!

Well, my main gripe is that the description states that the vehicle has working headlights. It doesn't -- it has stickers for headlights. The "Land Shark" and the "Gator" models do have the working LED headlights. Seems like a small thing, but I returned the toy because of this reason and purchased the Land Shark model instead. I know my son will get a kick out of the headlights...

I can't give a proper review until I receive the "Land Shark" model and see it in action...this is just a warning in case the headlights are a deal breaker...

be aware that the red Rover DOES NOT have real working headlights, they are stickers. I was very upset when I ordered this as well as the shark for Christmas gifts for boys who play together and one had headlights and the other did not.

I bought this for my four year old grandson to give him an activity while he was visiting me. It seems to operate as advertised and he seemed to have fun running it around our driveway. I was disappointed that the detailed instructions warn against using the toy in salt water, which is what we have here. This restricted his use of the toy to the land, which left him frustrated. I think that the product description should have made this more clear. On the positive side, he didn't manage to break it during his ten day visit, which suggests that it is somewhat durable.

I got this for Christmas about 2 years ago and thought that it was really cool. I drove it about all day in my dad's room. (My birthday is in winter, so I couldn't drive it outside.) When I did drive outside it worked pretty well. A few weeks ago I took it to the local pond. Despite what the manufacturers said, it cannot go fast and is almost impossible to control in water. And it is defeated by the slightest bump or uphill. And, it does not seem to be able to conquer what makes an all-terrain vehicle an all-terrain vehicle: MUD! I think that is absolutely stupid! However there was a path going downhill where my friend and I had tons of fun with our cars. However, they are both 27mhz, which causes interference. When I took it to the beach and tried to drive in the sand it did not work AT ALL! Then I accidentally left it in a bag in the shed for about 2 weeks and when I took it out it didn't work, even with fresh batteries! THAT IS PATHETIC!!! However, it proved to be pretty durable, and was upside down in a pond for over two minutes before my friend and I fished it out with a stick. Overall, THIS THING IS GARBAGE AND YOU SHOULD AVOID IT AT ALL COSTS!!! Definitely NOT a good quality product. Looks cool, though!

My son just received this for Christmas (2010) and he LOVES it!! It's a lot of fun! the only irritation for me is that if it bangs into things to often then the batteries come unlodged and it stops working...and then you have to take it apart and set the batteries back. Even with that, it's loads of fun for my son!