Elenco Electronics Snap Circuits Deluxe Snap Rover Review

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(More customer reviews)Where to begin with this thing?
My kid (8 y.o. girl) who loves "science stuff" has started getting into Snap Circuits, specifically the SC-300 kit. She expressed an interest in the standard RC Rover, but I thought the voice box and disc shooter were worthwhile upgrades for the fun factor.
One nitpick to start off:
The picture posted for this item does not really represent what it looks like. Yes, it has the Dome contraption and the yellow tanklike bottom, but the components on the back are not representative of what comes in the box. For example the big yellow speaker is not present and the green box is also not there. The red RF receiver box is nowhere near as large. What you get is functionally the same with a slightly different mix of components and the number of "experiments" went from 40 to 63, with two bonus experiments if you have an SC-300 kit or higher.
The kid showed a passing interest in it when it was with all the other Christmas loot, but the first experiment we did was the RC disc shooter. Thus followed an hour of playtime of having the vehicle hunt down and fire harmless foam discs at the cat (the cat enjoyed chasing down the discs as fast as the thing could be reloaded, too). Followed by hunting the wife, and then I fell victim to the rover's discs of death.
This thing is built quite sturdy and makes lots of gear noise when it runs. It has a headlight and flashing red "eyes". It plays beeping musical tunes and it can record and playback voices.
What to nitpick about it? Just a few things:
1. The SC-300 and other SnapCircuit kits come in a box to organize and store all the stuff. This comes in a box, but the box isn't suited for storage.
2. There is no "battery saver" for either the remote or the vehicle. It would be nice if the remote at least shut off after not being used for a while.
3. The remote uses a telescoping metal antenna, so one has to be careful not to break it.
4. One of the items - a 2-snap "wire" segment had a broken snap that won't stay attached. There is a card included where the customer can call the vendor about missing/broken parts and I plan to give them a call about it after the holidays.
In the end, this is a great toy (more toy-ish than the kits at least) and very entertaining and fun. Highly recommended if you have a kid who loves to tinker and build stuff.

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ElencoSnap Circuits Deluxe Snap Rover:Have FUN building your own RC Snap Rover using the colorful Snap Circuits parts that come with this kit.There is no soldering required as all the parts snap together with ease.Once completed, you will be able to navigate your surroundings with the easy-to-use Snap Rover remote control.Deluxe Features:Disc ShooterDigital Voice RecorderMusic SoundsOver 40 Other ExperimentsOver 50 PartsWireless Remote ControlRun up to three Rovers at onceNo Soldering Required

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Elenco Funology Radio Controlled Car Kit (non-soldering) Review

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(More customer reviews)It was fun putting this toy together, for both man and child. The car drives well and is controlled easily. The front wheels sometimes come undone, and you have to reset them on the posts, but no big deal. My son also broke the controller antennae two minutes after first using it, but it's a standard telescoping antenna -- he broke it carelessly.

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The purpose of this project is to expand your understanding of basic transmitters, receivers and electronic switching theories. Your Turbo King Car will be built from the ground up. You'll learn all about gears, motors, printed circuit boards, and integrated circuits from our detailed assemble and training manual. You will construct each section, explore the circuitry and troubleshoot it.

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Crystal Radio Experiment Kit, Review

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(More customer reviews)My son needed to build a crystal diode radio for the Communications Merit Badge in the Boy Scouts. I searched the internet to find a good price and this was it. The instructions were fairly easy to understand and my son built it himself without supervision. But he was unable to get it working. I took a look at it and found that the problems he had were primarily due to incorrectly orienting the kit's chassis to the drawing. Maybe colored springs would make it easier to know what connects where but I can't fault them for that, there needs to be some challenge. The real issue I have with the radio is it doesn't pull in radio stations very well.
From my own experimentation I grounded the kit correctly and hung the antenna at its full height. I could only find one radio station and it was so quiet I could just hear the peaks of the conversation. I went over the connection two more times to ensure that I hadn't shorted anything (a real problem with spring clips) and never achieved any better reception.However the radio worked just enough for my son to get his merit badge.
I have built these radios when I was a kid and they actually worked well. I think this needs to be re-engineered to improve the sensitivity and increase the volume coming out of the ear phone.

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Build Your Own Crystal Radio A good basic kit with everything you need to build a very simple crystal radio. This is not hi-tech hi-fi. Geared for ages eight and up, it is a complete kit with wonderfully straight forward instructions which walk the experimenter through hooking up tuning needle, crystal diode, and earphone, and experimenting to find useful antennas. (Sorry wire coil is already wound.) Excellent education, recreation and discovery device all at the same time. A simple kit with hours of fun in it.

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Snap Circuits FM Radio Review

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(More customer reviews)I work as an educator at a small museum and we bought 6 of these radios to use for a program based around life in the 1940's and 1950's. I have to tell you that the kids absolutely adored this activity. We had ages ranging from 4 to 12 and every single group loved putting together those radios. They were engaged and actively involved not just in the activity itself but in learning about why and how it worked. We've brought this activity back a few times and every time it's a hit. I always get kids asking me if they can keep the radios or where they can get one of their own.
The only thing I can think of that's negative about this product is that some of the parts are small and can get lost easily. However, in all the times I've done this activity we've never had a part go missing.
Even if they lose interest after a few weeks, I think the enjoyment they get out of the radio is well worth the price of admission.

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Challenge young scientific minds with this Snap Circuits kit that lets you build an FM Radio. Have fun building your radio; then tune it to your favorite FM station when you are finished. Easy to build and fun to use. Requires 3 "AA" batteries, not included.

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