Hot Wheels Video Racer Micro Camera Car - Red

by Mattel

Product Features

• The only 1:64 scale Hot Wheels car and that doubles as an action camera
• Camera allows 30 frames per second recording capability and can record up to 12 minutes of video
• Even has a built-in LCD screen for instant playback
• Includes clips and straps so you can attach it to bikes, helmets, skateboards, or almost anything
• Videos can be edited online with the exclusive Hot Wheels Video Racer software

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 16 x 2 x 7.5 inches ; 1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B004SKLU5C
• Item model number: W6721
• Manufacturer recommended age: 5 - 9 years
• Batteries: 1 Nonstandard Battery batteries required. (included)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,433 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
  • #26 in Toys & Games > Play Vehicles > Play Vehicles
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Film the world from the perspective of a racecar with the Hot Wheels Video Racer Micro Camera Car. Allowing 30-frames-per-second recording quality and holding up to 12 minutes of video, the Video Racer is the only 1/64 scale Hot Wheels car that doubles as an action camera. Download the free Video Racer editing software to upload your videos and share them with your friends!

Video Racer
Micro Camera Car

• Ages: Five and up
• Requires: 3.7 V Li-Polymer battery (included)

At a Glance:

• Micro camera capable of 30-frames-per-second recording quality
• Memory holds 12 minutes of video
• Attachment clips bring Video Racers to new terrains
• USB cable and free Video Racer editing software make sharing videos easy

USB cable and free Video Racer editing software are included for video sharing. View larger.

Records up to 12 minutes of video. View larger.

Put Yourself in the Driver's Seat with Built-In Mini Cam

The Video Racer allows you to see the world through the eyes of a Hot Wheels driver. Slide the power switch toward the front of the car, press the Skull Button to switch into record mode, and start racing! The memory records up to 12 minutes of video as the Video Racer speeds along Hot Wheels tracks with instant playback on its LCD screen.

Explore New Terrains with Adhesive Car Mounts

The Video Racer includes four attachment clips and an Action Cam protective attachment case that allow your car to travel on a variety of new terrains. Two of the attachment clips come with corresponding adhesive strips, allowing you to affix your car to places such as a bike helmet so you can film as you ride. The other two clips come with an adjustable strap so you can wear the Video Racer attached to your arm or wrist to film your stunts, no matter what sport you play!

Edit and Share Videos with Friends and Family

When the battery is drained or the memory is full, simply plug the Video Racer into a computer with the included USB cable. With the Video Racer editing software installed, the car charges as recorded footage automatically transfers to the computer. With the included instructions, controlling the camera and software settings is easy and fun.

The Video Racer editing software runs only on a Windows Operating System. Our Mac-using testers were happy to find, though, that they were still able to play their videos on the computer even if they weren't able to edit them.

What's in the Box

Hot Wheels Video Racer car, USB cable, four attachment clips, adjustable strap, two adhesive strips, Action Cam protective attachment case, and instructions for use.

Product Description

Hot Wheels Video Racer Micro Camera Car: Get the Video Racer Video Camera Car with a built-in Mini Cam putting you in the drivers? seat. See the world through Hot Wheels by racing on actual 1:64 scale Hot Wheels track while recording. The Video Racer car even has a built-in LCD screen for instant playback. The possibilities are endless. The Video Racer Micro Camera Car is the only 1:64 scale Hot wheels car and that doubles as an action camera. Included clips and straps, it can also be attached to bikes, helmets, skateboards, almost anything. The Video Racer Micro Camera allows 30 frames per second recording capability and can record up to 12 minutes of video. Also the built in LCD screen on the undercarriage allows for instant feedback to see if the right shot was captured or not. Create, Edit and Share Your Videos. CREATE: Film all your stunts by sending your Video Racer car down Hot Wheels track or by mounting the Video Racer car on other surfaces such as bikes, skateboards, etc. EDIT: Get creative. Add music and graphics to your video for the ultimate Hot Wheels experience. Exclusive software will allow you to edit and create your own movies. It is pre-loaded with graphics, sounds effects and even music.? Create an instant movie from all your clips with a single click. SHARE: Connect with friends or upload online so everyone can see your world through Hot Wheels.Features include: -The only 1:64 scale Hot Wheels car and that doubles as an action camera-Camera allows 30 frames per second recording capability and can record up to 12 minutes of video-Even has a built-in LCD screen for instant playback-Includes clips and straps so you can attach it to bikes, helmets, skateboards, or almost anything-Videos can be edited online with the exclusive Hot Wheels Video Racer software

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars James Bond Stealth Camera, September 23, 2011

By 

V. Canfield (San Antonio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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

This review is from: Hot Wheels Video Racer Micro Camera Car - Red (Toy)

(What's this?)

My 9-year-old son loved this toy and so did his dad. I could hardly get it away from them long enough to check it out so I could review it.

Getting started:
You should charge the car for at least an hour before you start recording. The battery holds a charge for about 45 min. and there is a light that will blink to tell you the battery is running low.

Filming:
The skull-shaped button is easy to get to--on the top back of the car. All you do is push, it blinks, telling you you're ready to go. The camera is in the front of the car where the headlights would be and the USB is in the tail of the car. the power (off/on) switch is on the side and the microphone is on the top where the hood would be.There is even an LCD screen on the underside of the car that allows you to play back the video. Below the LCD screen are two buttons, one for playback of the video, the other for changing the camera settings. There are a couple of different settings for different filming modes like VGA (30 frames per second )resolution and QVGA (60 frames per second)resolution. They are pretty simplistic and they can be tested to see which works best under different lighting. VGA is supposed to be for outdoor shots, QVGA for track shots. The skull button also acts as a memory status bar. As the button's red color fills, it has less memory available for recording.

Watching the movie:
The LCD is small, but does the job. There is no sound on the car when you play back the video. You have to hook it up to a computer to get sound. There is also a delete button on the LCD so you can erase a recording if it is not satisfactory. The video quality won't be winning you any Academy Awards, but it's passable and much better in bright, outdoor light. The stealth possibilities more than make up for meh video quality. Seriously, what I wouldn't have given to have this as a kid. I could have learned all my brother's secrets and my snitching could have been taken to new heights.

Outdoor fun:
Once your child is done having fun in the house, they can put the car in the protective case and fix it onto their wrists, helmet, skateboard or bike (or in my case, our dog, which I did humanely without harming the family pet. I couldn't keep it on any or our cats- oh well) and take it around to record their adventures. There is only 12-24 min. (depending on which camera setting you chose) of recording, but it's 12-24 min of serious fun when you hook it up to your dog. It comes with attachment clips, adhesive strips and an adjustable strap.

Editing:
The software is very easy, drag and drop and icon oriented. It isn't complicated and reminds me of Microsoft's movie maker. It's easy to add sound effects, music and graphics that come pre-loaded with the software. You can also add your own music, sound effects, graphics, etc. Editing's a snap. The software doesn't come with the car, but it's free to download at the Hot Wheels site and potential customers should know Hot Wheels is a PC company. Sorry Mac people, the software won't run on your high end machines. But, it does state on the instruction guide that the car is Mac compatible. It seems the software can't be used on a Mac, but the video will be playable and the Mac will see the toy as a Mass Storage Device. Any editing using a Mac should be done with a Mac program.

More information:
You can watch some example videos at the Hot Wheels website. I gave a link, but Amazon kept taking it out.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fun but overpriced, September 30, 2011

By 

Daniel G. Lebryk (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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

This review is from: Hot Wheels Video Racer Micro Camera Car - Red (Toy)

(What's this?)

Length:: 0:39 Mins

Open the box, huge smiles, dancing around the room, charge up the car, play around with it going vroom vroom, watch the video, HOW COOL IS THIS?, strap the car to a slot car, run it around the track, watch the video, HOW COOL WAS THAT?, run it around some Hot Wheels track - it's a good fast car. But, what now?

This is a really expensive toy that does something really cool, but does it have a ton of replay value?

For the kids, this is fun. The videos are decent. The idea of putting a tiny camera in a Hot Wheels car is fantastic. If you play with Hot Wheels a lot, this is a great addition to the box of cars. Outside of recording laps around your track or making car videos, your cell phone will work better.

What is this thing? I posted some pictures of a tear down. It is a fairly poor quality cell phone camera, (I would guess the standard 3Megapixel camera in low end phones), a poor microphone, a very small battery, a tiny LCD panel (probably one from the rear view of a flip cell phone) and some pretty fancy custom circuit boards and chips. Mattel did a great job digging through the cell phone parts bin to find lightweight rugged parts. The parts are extremely well protected. The LCD is actually covered by a fairly solid piece of plastic and an air gap (it would take a very direct hard hit to break the LCD). The circuit boards are all encapsulated in plastic and then protected with an air gap inside the car body. Submerging this in water is a bad idea, there's a good chance the electronics would fry. However, rain, mud, getting wet - the electronics are very well protected from that. This car is just as rugged as any other Hot Wheels car - stepping on it will break it, but dropping it from 6 feet to concrete, the body will look bad, but the electronics will survive.

The USB connection is 1.0, and is painfully slow for transfers of video to a computer. Another indication of the parts bin Mattel used for this camera. The video quality is nothing great, but it's also not so bad considering where it came from. There are two settings, 30 fps (frames per second) and 60 fps. The 30 fps is set with a mountain and cloud icon - the video is larger, less pixelated, but fast action isn't captured as well. The 60 fps video is smaller, less pixelated, and fast action is captured better (set with the race track icon). The instructions say to record the 60fps in bright light to get the best results. There's a skull icon to indicate the amount of memory used in the car. It's pretty darn hard to imagine ever filling up the memory. The screen is so tiny with no speaker, viewing video on the car is painful, and that video will be transferred to a computer.

The car is compatible with Mac and PC both. The car appears as a flash drive, and given the USB 1 connection, I would guess just about any operating system could read that drive. To use the Mattel video editing software, a PC is required. Most kids already have their software to edit video. The Mattel software doesn't bring much to the table at the end of the day (it is free and easy to download and install). I managed to edit the videos on iMovie with no trouble at all. The files are AVI and simple to edit.

Sound is excellent on this device; oh I mean the sound of the track is outstanding. Anything else, speaking, music, sound effects - are all simply horrible. The audio is so over compressed almost nothing comes out. No it can't really be used as a video camera. Again, a cell phone makes much more sense.

Now how much fun did I have with this? A ton of fun. I really did rubber band the car to a 1/43rd Scalextric slot car and drove it around my track. The video was fun. But how many times will I do this again? Well not too many. The car made my slot car top heavy and slowed it way down. My next project is to put the car in a rocket and launch it (there are egg lift Estes rockets that work very well, this car is lighter than an egg and I could record a rocket launch). That will be a lot of fun. Yes there are all these mounting options for the camera, bikes, helmets, and skateboard - all great fun. But there are actually really good cameras that aren't much more expensive that are designed for that kind of application and take great video.

This is a good toy. Its just way over priced. At $30 this is an incredible toy. At $60 it is just way too expensive for what it does.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Intro to Video for Kids..., October 16, 2011

By 

Robert Stone (Midwest / Ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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

This review is from: Hot Wheels Video Racer Micro Camera Car - Red (Toy)

(What's this?)

Length:: 0:12 Mins

I was happy to see this item and snapped it up for my 6 and 8 year old kids. As expected, my 6 year old son took it up right away and my 8 year old daughter had a lot of fun with it as well. It is very light weight (which of course is a prerequisite for a Hot Wheels car) and fairly easy to learn in terms of setup. There are 2 buttons on the bottom of the car and a picture-based menu which I ended up navigating trial and error style a lot like one would figure out the functions of a digital watch (I am firmly in the group of guys for whom consulting a manual is a last resort). The camera is tiny and appears well protected at the front of the car. The LCD on the bottom of the car is for navigation of the menus and a quick preview of footage. The car has a microphone but not a speaker so playback on the car is silent, but can be heard once video is transferred to a computer, though mostly the microphone just picks up track sounds as one would expect. The transfer of video was easily accomplished to my Mac by plugging in the included USB link which plugs into the back of the car. The car then appears on the desktop just like a jump drive. It is my understanding it should be just as easy under Windows.

The included video is actual footage shot by my son. As you can see, the picture is very dark despite being shot in a room with a light on and outdoor light coming in through some large windows. Not too surprising as it is shot with basically a pinhole camera! I thought about shooting some footage myself and lighting the scene but figured this video would better reflect what other kids would produce and would better show actual results. Looking at the video as posted on Amazon, it does come across even darker than on the computer, which does show the faint online of the track as the car comes down it. I may update this later with some attempts outdoors where results might be better - if the weather holds long enough to allow that!

This is a fun item which my kids very much enjoyed playing with. It seemed to have good replay value and I wonder if the better lighting outside (using the included mounting accessories for bike, etc.) might help picture quality. I feel an appropriate price point for this item is around thirty dollars, I'm not sure the quality of the item justifies a higher price.