Customer Reviews

Mega Brands Magnext iCoaster

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

My son wanted this toy for awhile and finally got it this past week. We have read the negative reviews and he was worried that it would not be worth the money, but he really wanted to try it. The new version doesn't seem to have any of the problems that the older version has. The track now snaps together and is does not fall apart- he even applied pressure on purpose. The music player still needs an extra attachment ire, but that was not his biggest draw to this toy. The music box sounds are sufficient. All-in-all, it has been worth the money.

My 6 year old received this for Christmas - and I have to say - it turned out to be better than I expected. We've definitely enjoyed playing with it - but building the tracks has been difficult for him. I do have a few comments:

1. Like other reviewers have mentioned, unless you have an adapter for your MP3 player, you won't be able to use that feature of this toy.

2. You're obviously going to need a lot of space to put this together. Uncarpeted is best, too.

2. You have to be able to follow "picture" instructions --there are no written instructions with this. The pages are about the size of two 8 1/2 X 11 pages, so the pictures are easy to see - however, ours came with 'corrections' on ALL 10 different track configurations - on black and white 8 1/2X11 pages - making it much harder to 'read'- you're always having to flip back and forth b/w the corrections and the large pictures.

One final suggestion, - wait for it to go on sale. Our local stores have had this on sale MUCH lower than the Amazon price - Full price is too much to pay for the iCoaster, even with it's improvements. Oh - and I can't remember if it's on the box - but you're going to need 4 "C" batteries to make it work.

We bought this toy for our 9 year old son. He, as well as the rest of the family, has completely enjoyed it! He has only made one from the book but has designed his own coaster 3 times. I rated this high for education for a simple fact. My son has some disabilities and problem solving and frustration is one of them. The has really given him a challenge and learning with problem solving. He is also learning to work with and listen to others ideas.
It is a little flimsy and can ruin the run with a simple bump, but it's easily fixed. The toy overall is a great joy.

I think this is a fun toy. Lots of fun ways to put together and the automatic marble tower makes it fun to watch the marbles go around and around. My 7 year old needs some help putting it together. But, I like helping him. It's a great toy for me to play. All my kids

I have had two pieces break in the last 7 months. But the customer service is great and they have mailed me the broken parts quickly, no questions asked.

This is a very well-thought-out toy, and goes way beyond the usual marble run sets. The electronics really add to the fun rather than just being an afterthought (though of course you can leave them off if desired), and the elevator is a brilliant touch.

The set is a bit finicky to set up and maintain, entropy takes its toll pretty quickly so it requires periodic maintenance to keep it together. It would be great if they beefed up the connection mechanisms, making them positively latch instead of just pushing together. But unless your kids really tear it up then it should be fine given a bit of TLC from them and you. My twin 6-year-old boys are pretty rough on stuff but they do fine with this, especially since it's pretty obvious that you need to give it some love to keep the fun going.

The set has a good variety of features. A few more curves and straights would give you more flexibility, but that's a minor quibble. Overall a unique and very successful take on the marble roller coaster concept.

My grandson loves magnext however they are way over priced for what they are.It makes it difficult to get more pieces or sets to add on. It should be more affordable this set is 90.00 at the store 55.00 on amazon. Would have loved to get another set for an add on but just too expensive.10 other grandkids to buy for
They pieces are very small should have a case

We got this for our 8 yr. old son for Christmas. He needed some help putting it together, but it was easy for a parent to do and seems to be well made. It can be built in many different ways and has some cool sounds. We all thought it was pretty neat and it's a great toy for those who like to build things.

My 5- and 7-year-old sons have enjoyed playing with this, although it takes some real thinking by an adult to put it together the first time. Once you figure out the notations on the diagram (there are 3 different types of curves that look similar), the finished product is quite sturdy and fun. The only problem we have is the "suspension magnet bridge" - the balls tend to get stuck there. Oh, and the music gets a bit annoying after a while, but there are volume and off switches.

I bought this for my daughter. I have to confess that I have had more fun with it than she has. She wants to enjoy it more but it is not that easy for a child of 7 to use without a lot of adult assistance. There are two reasons for this:

1. It is quite hard to snap the pieces together. The construction is very solid, but the downside of this is that it is difficult for small hands to put it together. It is even harder to detach a piece once attached, and any frustration can result in breaking one of the pegs that help attach one piece of track to another. If a peg snaps off in a hole there is not much you can do about it: one or both pieces is rendered useless.

2. The design is very unforgiving. This is the worst problem. Obviously the marbles have to run downhill, from the top of the elevator to the bottom. It is suprisingly difficult to make something where the balls run smoothly from top to bottom without derailing. The set contains a relatively large number of special pieces (loops, jumps, etc.) and curves, with only a couple of straight bits. The special pieces all require the ball to be travelling ABOVE a certain speed, whereas the curves require the ball to be moving BELOW a certain speed. The net result is that it is very difficult to put a run together that actually works - most of the time the balls all fall/fly off and you have to adjust your design. Adjusting the design is an interesting intellectual excercise, but it is beyond most children under the age of 10 (unless your the sort of parent that helps a lot and then claims the kid did it themselves). My daughter noticed that just one of the pieces has side walls so that the balls cannot derail and she asked "Why couldn't they put rails around more of the curves?"

Of course, this sort of toy is more suitable for children 10+ anyway. Heck, I love fighting with it and I am a lot older than 10!

Overall I think this is a decent product but I question the usefulness of it. If you want a toy your kids will play with on their own then this might not be it, unless they are older AND have a lot of patience. I cannot stress enough how frustrating this thing can be. If you want to educate your children on the velocity and momentum of moving objects then this is hard to beat. If you love moving furniture to retrieve steel balls, or fishing them out of the vacuum cleaner, then this product is for you.

Bought this to replace last year's model, which pulled apart continuously at the joints - very frustrating. This new 2008 model is much improved - corrected all of the problems. Lots of fun.