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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
There is a real tornado in my room!, September 9, 2008
Durability:3.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars
It is hard to believe I am the first person to review this great product. Being that there were not any reviews of this tornado machine, I was a little worried about buying it, and for the $100+ price, I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into. Let me just say that I am a HUGE tornado fanatic, and always have been since a little kid. I've never seen one in person before, just on TV. I figured that I would probably never see one in real life, so I decided to buy this because the picture looked very interesting.
This product seems to be marketed towards educating kids in a classroom environment about tornadoes. What I have found is that this is just ONE REALLY COOL AMAZING TOY FOR GROWNUPS, like me! Set up took less than 10 minutes, and once I plugged it in and flipped the switch, I had aroused a true tornado... or possibly a landspout of some sort, miniaturized and caged for my convenience. There is a an adjustable speed control, so you can just have all sorts of fun with this thing. You can create a violent spinning tube, or a soft rope like vortex that fades and strengthens gradually until it ropes out completely, spilling over the side of the cage into nothingness. You can adjust the degree of air flow to help give a tighter or looser spin to your baby tornado. The possibilities are endless. I have spent the past 12 hours playing and watching this thing. I am considering taking off work tomorrow just to be with it. It is almost a spiritual experience. The actual length of the vortex from base (mist hole) to the bottom of the updraft fan is about 1 and a half feet tall. What you see in the picture is actually what you get... only it's just THAT MUCH BETTER once you see it for yourself.
I am definitely getting one of these for my nephew for his birthday. Any kid 10 years and up should be able to set it up. The unit is made of really thin plastic, and is not really very durable, so do handle this with care. The water pan is very thin too, and should be handled with extra care so that you do not crack it, otherwise you will have water all over the floor.
The unit comes with a mister that sits in the water pan, which works great, although the plug in transformer gets very very hot.
There are two fans on top, one blows air into the tubes on the side and the other sucks air through the top which simulates updraft. The updraft fan gets very wet, because it is sucking up condensation cloud created by the mister, but so far it has not caused any electrical problems. It must be insulated very well. I was really worried the fan was going to short out and sparks would be flying, but, nope, so far, nothing to worry about.
This is the coolest "toy" I have played with since my first HO train set when I was 5. I'm now in my early 30's and I am playing with tornadoes. I recommend this to ANYONE who is interested in tornadoes, waterspouts, landspouts, dust devils, snow devils, or any other type of weather related vortex. 5 stars! 10, if they let me rate that high!
I would also recommend you use some sort of small spotlight focused on the machine to better see the funnel cloud... which will make it look really great in a dark room.
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