Customer Reviews

OWI Happy Hopping Frog Kit - Solar Powered

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

 

 

I recently purchased this kit. The instructions were clear enough and assembly wasn't overly difficult, but I found that after it was assembled it wouldn't work. The frog is supposed to work by having the solar-powered motor wind up (and release) its spring-driven rear legs. The motor works OK, as do the gears that go between the motor and the cam that winds up the legs. Unfortunately, however, the gears are connected to the cam by a smooth round rod, and the friction between that rod and the cam isn't enough to move the legs - the rod rotates, but the cam doesn't move. I tried to fix this by putting a drop of superglue in the cam and then reattaching it to the rod, but must have used a little too much, gluing the cam to the body. The rear legs rotate on a hexagonal rod that prevents the sort of slippage I described - it's too bad they didn't do something similar for connecting the gears to the cam.

Anyway, I wouldn't recommend this kit to anyone. I did get a small solar cell and pager motor out of it that should be usable for some other project, but still resent that I was suckered into paying for a piece of junk like this kit. I'm honestly curious whether anyone has ever gotten it to work.

Brittle plastic, which doesn't get along with the toy's metal screws very well (screw-holes could be easily stripped, body of toy could be easily cracked). The motor slips out of place easily, when it can be made to engage the plastic gears it is too weak to turn them. Falls apart during construction. Easily.

My 9-year-old (who does well with Lego Mindstorms and other fairly complex kits) gave up on it after an hour. I spent more than an hour putting it together, then more time later taking it apart to try and get the blasted thing to work.

Not too happy with this non-hopping frog. Maybe we can use the solar panel for something else.

The frog has some assembly when it arrives, but it is very cute and jumps. It seems sturdy enough to last a while. It turns when it jumps and looses the light so it stops quickly to need adjusting to the sunlight. Both the 4 and 7 year old boys enjoy playing with it.

I bought this for a grad school friend of mine. She loves it and is the envy of her friends. The product title is apt. This toy will make you happy. It's made of plastic obviously, so please do not throw it against a wall or step on it.

I got this for my 7 year old son. He tried putting it together on his own. Then I tried for an hour or more. The pieces don't fit. The instructions aren't clear. It was very frustrating. We never could get it together right.