Annoy-a-tron

by ThinkGeek

Product Details

• Item Weight: 1.1 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B0013JCSKC
• Item model number: 98C52
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,030 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)

Product Description

The ThinkGeek Annoy-a-tron would be useless against an army of Snowbots, but it's very effective at disturbing that guy in the sales department or your "friend" down the hall. With its thin design and embedded magnet for easy hiding, the Annoy-a-tron can be placed in a variety of locations. Select one of the three sound choices (2 kHz, 12 kHz, or alternating) and push the switch to the on position. Place it in a proper hiding spot and let the "fun" begin. The Annoy-a-tron generates a short (but very annoying, hence the name) beep every few minutes. Your unsuspecting target will have a hard time 'timing' the location of the sound because the beeps will vary in intervals ranging from 2 to 8 minutes. The 2kHz sound is generically annoying enough, but if you really really want to aggravate somebody, select the 12 kHz sound. Trust us. The higher frequency and slight 'electronic noise' built into that soundbyte will make a full-grown Admin wonder where his packets are. 3 simple steps: 1) Turn on. 2) Hide it. 3) Muahahaha...

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Works as Advertised-A-Tron!, July 20, 2010

By 

Zolton "Veni. Vidi. Reviewi." (Brookline, MA) - See all my reviews

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Annoy-a-tron (Toy)

I purchased this product as part of a home-administered hearing test I wanted to perform on my wife and dog. Neither of them seemed to listen to a word I said; I could yammer on until I was blue in the uvula, with no response. Nothing but blank stares. So I decided to find out whether they'd actually gone clinically deaf or had just learned to tune me out, by making a series of loud and annoying noises and monitoring their responses.

This little gadget boops and squeals at random times, like a crazed robotic mouse or R2-D2 on a juma juice bender. Or my senior prom date.

First, I tested the dog, clipping the Annoy-A-Tron to her collar before a walk. Even with the outside distractions, she definitely responded to the intermittent noises -- trying desperately to twist around to find the Terminator that had apparently snuck up DIRECTLY BEHIND HER. So her hearing still works -- as long as it's not me doing the beeping. Just for that, I left the device on her collar for the whole walk -- or at least until the thing squealed down the block, and she backflipped into Mrs. Wilson's petunias trying to get at it. We scurried home pretty quickly after that; the mutt doesn't listen, but she still knows when to 'cheese it!'

For my wife, I needed a less obvious hiding place, but one where I could easily observe her reactions. So I snuck into the bedroom one night before she got home, pulled the buzzer out of her alarm clock and replaced it with the Annoy-A-Tron. For the next week, she'd set the alarm, and the clock would happily beep and shriek at her. Never at the time she wanted -- and often in the middle of the night -- but it still made about as much noise, on average, as before. And she could definitely hear it; I could tell by all of the tossing and turning and angry pounding on the clock. On the last night, I jokingly called it her 'alarming clock' and she threatened to beat me to death with my own pillow. 'Because it'll take longer'.

I think I've collected all the data I need, thanks.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Tale of Two Reactions, December 11, 2010

By 

db "dubby" (Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Annoy-a-tron (Toy)

I hid this in my husband's pen jar on his dresser. He came to bed after I was "asleep", gave me a quick kiss, and climbed in. Two minutes later, a quick beep from his dresser. He jumped up and and went in the general direction of his dresser and checked it out, finding nothing, so he went back to bed.
Five minutes later, another beep. He jumped up and yelled "Did you hear that?" "Hear what?" I replied. "That beep. It came from my dresser." "Honey, you have a cell phone, a PDA, a camera, a ham radio, and who knows what else? Probably a low battery on one of them."
He carefully moved all of the electronics off his dresser. Five minutes later "Beep!"
"It's on my dresser! I know it! What is it! It goes off every five minutes!"
"I don't hear a thing, just go to sleep."
By now he has the lights on and is standing beside his dresser, stopwatch in hand. "Beep!"
"See! There it goes again!"
By this time, although I'm trying to pretend to be asleep, I can't hold back the laughter anymore. I get up, take the Annoyatron out, hand it to him, and say "Here. Now get some sleep."
Of course, by this time, the adrenaline has him so pumped up he doesn't get to sleep until three. Oh my, I AM evil! I actually feel kind of bad. But not bad enough to keep from doing it again.

So I try it on the teenage girl, taping it under her clock right beside the head of her bed. Three days later I ask if she has heard any random sounds. "Yeah, I hear a beep in my room every now and then. You know what it is?"

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I need more!!!, November 12, 2008

By 

M. Ridenour - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Annoy-a-tron (Toy)

This little thing is ALMOST perfect.

My intended victim is older.. and the unfortunate thing about old people is that they can't HEAR the high beeps and squeals this thing makes. So my target was immune, except for everybody around him. So all in all, still a win, but it would be better if it had a lower pitched beep option for those hard of hearing.