Customer Reviews

SkyRocket Paraspinner

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The design is poor. There is no way for the bottom to spin because the parachute rubs against it. There is no weight to the front end, so the rocket often tumbles through the air. The workmanship is poor. A fin quickly fell off. This is a cheaply made toy that doesn't do what it says on the box.

My brother and I got 2 packs of these for Christmas this year and us, along with our dad were super excited to try them out. We took it to my schools field (with grass that is not super hard) and within 10 minutes the first one broke. Then it all went down hill from there. By the end of our trip, about 45 minutes, all 4 had broke in some way, quite poorly constructed. Even if they hadn't fallen apart, they had plenty major issues like for instance, 3 out of 4 didn't spin which is really bad because the spinning makes the parachute fly out and not crash land, and that is the whole point of the rocket! Over all DON'T BUY THIS PRODUCT, it is worthless.

The parachute did not deploy 1 time. The only reason I rated it a 2 star is because it still flies.You should NOT buy these.

It's unfortunate this toy doesn't work in the real world as it's designed to do. I had a toy similar to this in my youth that worked beautifully.
That rocket had a sliding metal plate that was just out of reach of a stationary magnet. When the rocket reached apogee and became briefly weightless, the influence of the magnetic field would overcome gravity and the plate would slide forward on two plastic rails. The forward motion would trigger a release mechanism, and two rubber bands would fling the rolled-up parachute out of the rocket. Because the parachute was forcibly popped out into the airstream, IT ALWAYS WORKED. Not only did the chute deploy rapidly, because of the way it was designed 'at apogee' rather than 'timed rotation' it got a good canopy just a few feet down from the peak of the arc.

The way this rocket is designed, the successful deployment of the parachute relies on the counter-rotating fin assembly to unscrew the parachute container. The very weak force of the opposed fins moving through the air must overcome the resistance of the threaded spine, which unless it is nearly frictionless, will fail. Then the parachute has to fall out and open before the rocket strikes the ground. This chain of events occurred successfully one time out of a number of attempts. Then the launcher's rather thin rubber tube failed.

Would have given this NO STARS if given the option. As the other reviewers have stated, do not spend a penny for this product. It will not, and cannot, work as designed! PERIOD! The person that gave 5 stars will have figured this out on their first attempt. I feel bad for kids these days as the manufacturers are putting out more and more trash. The packaging and the toy look like hours of enjoyment when all you really get is major disappointment. Amazon should set up a system whereby if a toy gets a certain number of poor reviews the product is pulled from their site.

Watch this youtube video and you'll see that it works in only 1 of 3 attemps, and not very well at that.
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We tried everything to get this to work, read all of the directions and tried different things but the bottom line is it doesn't work. Our son was so excited about it, the idea for the toy is a very good one, but the product does not deliver at all. The bottom part of the rocked does not detach and the rocket is not very well made at all.

The idea behind this is a good one, but there are three problems:
1. It's too light (200 foot height is only possible off a cliff)
2. The foam fins do not provide enough torque to actually unspin the rocket. Combined with the very short flights there is no way that the parachute will ever be deployed- we never got it to unscrew even one single spin.
3. The foam and sticker construction is so cheaply made that even if it did work, I would guess the lifetime of the toy to be about an hour. The nose cone has already fallen off in about 15 launches.

Absolutely a horrible, worthless toy.

This was a Christmas gift for my 7 year old godson. He was very excited by it, but since it is full blown winter here now, he will have to wait until spring to try it out. But I'm sure he will enjoy it!