Customer Reviews

Thames and Kosmos Physics Solar Workshop

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

 

 

I bought this toy for my son's 10th birthday. He spent couple of hours creating the crane as instructed in the manual. The crane will not run in the sun or with a 100 Watt bulb. He tried to run it with one AA battery instead of the solar cell as written in the manual. It still will not run. If you just run the motor with the solar cell without any load on the motor, the motor runs with a 100 Watt bulb or in the sun. But as soon as you put any load on it, it stops running. I think 1.5 V motor just does not have any power to take any load. My son is extremely frustrated.

This is a very well designed product otherwise, with nice gears and other parts. The projects you can do with it like making cranes and vehicles are quite educational and fun to build. If they had provided a stronger motor and solar cell, this product would have been excellent and I would have given it a five star rating. But it is very frustrating when a product doesn't do what it is advertised to do.

When I read the sole review here, and then read very positive reviews at another site which also sells it, I was perplexed about whether to buy it or not. I bought it. Today, as a test I built the first solar vehicle in the booklet. It was late afternoon, with high clouds partly obscuring the sun when I took the solar car outside to see if it would work. The car did propel itself with just the solar cell and motor. It was not fast, but it did work. Inside, a flashlight provided more speed and vigor.

I will be interested in building the other experiments in the booklet with our grandson. I will also explain to him that we may have to add another solar cell or two to the solar car and see how much added speed that provides, but that will make it an even better science toy!

we tried several items and the contraptions work flawlessly in sunlight. i need to find a good portable indoor source that can do the same so we can have some fun indoors.

i found this an extremely educational toy for my daughter and we both had a ball reading the instructions together and figuring out what to do.

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Update 3/14/10: After trying out a few more projects i feel they missed out on one main component that would enhance this kit. They should have included a polarity switch that allows the motor to spin in either direction (without having to manually swap the wires, as is required now). There are many projects that have limited motion in one direction (such as elevator, crane) and it would be nice to reverse the motor direction through a switch.

But still this is an awesome kit that sparks imagination.

I'd previously purchased the Physics Workshop for my son and, while I was very pleased with the sturdy pieces and fairly solid construction of the experiments, because of the vague directions and small photographs I was hesitant to try another Thames and Kosmos set. However, after searching for months for other sets that wouldn't break after 48 hours of use, and not able to find anything more sturdy and engaging, I decided to give Thames and Kosmos another try. I'm happy I did because my son has really enjoyed the Solar Workshop. The solar panel is a little weak but everything he has built has worked and, best of all, the instruction booklet is superior to the Physics Workshop; many step-by-step, larger instructional photos have made assembly possible without any adult assistance.

(However, the Air+Water Power set arrived today and my husband had to get out our magnifying glass in order to see some of the parts pictured in the tiny photos. I can't understand why the company cannot consistently create easy to follow instructional booklets.)

This kit is very well made. Parts are sturdy. After building some of the projects, we created some things of our own design. The instructions were clear.

Yes, the solar cell is too small for the load it has to drive. If this important to you, then just buy a larger solar cell. Try Edmund Scientific (lots of fun educational stuff here), Radio Shack or the internet.

I did bump it down to four stars due to the solar cell problem.
Everything else is well thought out. Although the solar cell does work if your project does not have a friction issue. It is under-sized for the load, and therefore it barely works.

The current Amazon price ($24.99) is very good. Worth the money.

Es un excelente juguete para que los niños creativos exploren su imaginación. Mi hijo pasa horas con él, inventando proyectos. Es una buena compra, lo recomiendo.

Great gift for my 10 year old grandson. We are just wishing the sun would shine so we can try out the solar panel!

Our grandson enjoys doing the experiments and building things. It is great experience for him to expand his skills and knowledge.