Hot Wheels RC Drone Racerz is a brand new dimension of racing to the world of Hot Wheels. Now Hot Wheels fans can not only fly the innovative drone by its own, they can also connect the drone onto the exclusive Hot Wheels car to drive, drift and race the world by storm! This is a new level of racing excitement! We were so lucky to get a special preview of this awesome set through the recent Blog On event. It is suitable for aged eight and above. I think this is the right age and both of my children aged 8 and 9 love playing with this.
This is a lightweight 2.4GHz Radio Control drone with LED Lights. It can fly indoors or out, flip 360º and you are provided a stunt set to try the drone gate challenge! It comes with drone, chassis, 4 spare rotor blade, handset, stunt set (1 hoop, 2 ramp, 1 checkpoint and 1 phone holder made from cardboard), instructions, USB charger and screwdriver. The rotor blades are easy to swap. Do make sure that you swap the same colour and number blade otherwise it will not fly properly. You can also use your own Hot Wheels orange track to create your own ultimate race.
There are two ways of playing with this: either flying the drone itself or connect the racing car chassis to the drone to drift and drive. My children love both modes, swapping it back and forth to race around the tracks and then to fly around the room.
The drone is lightweight and well made. It is quite a small drone, which is slightly bigger than any Hot Wheels car. My children initially thought that the drone would be able to fly with the car, which is not entirely correct. It will not take off with the car as it is too heavy. In fact, the car will drift and race like a remote control car. It is really cool! There are so many stunts you can do with it. My only gripe is that it’s hard to remove the drone from the chassis clip. You do need to wriggle it using fingernails to push off the hook to release the drone.
My children have played Hot Wheels RC Drone Racerz many times now and amazingly all the blades and frame are still intact and I haven’t have to replace anything yet. We have had other drones which I’m sure would not have fared as well. It has an on/off button at the back of the drone. It needs to be charged for an hour using either the handset or from computer which gives play of 4 to 5 minutes. The drone will flash when it has low battery.
The handset requires 4 AA batteries which are not included. For the initial play, you have to synchronise it. It doesn’t take long and within seconds you are ready to play. The handset comes with integrated charging and multi-speed modes. But do remember to turn it on if you charge it via the handset. It is quite easy to forget to press to charge! A couple of times we have connected the drone using the USB cable and forgot to press the button! It is important to not overcharge it so don’t forget to set your timer for an hour.
Both of my children enjoy flying the drone with chassis. They both feel more confidence in controlling the drone with the chassis than just the drone itself. The 360º stunt flip requires at least 3 metres so you would need high ceilings or to go outside to be able to do that. As a newbie, it is best to fly in a clear room to avoid any unnecessary obstacles.
Both of my children are very impressed with this set and thinks it is much improved than Bladez Mycropodz Quadcopter in term of the control and battery life. No wonder they have recently won the Silver award for the Best Toy Vehicle 2017 MadeForMums Toy Awards. This is now available in Argos, Maplin, Toys ‘R’ us, Tesco, Toymaster, Hamleys, Very and Amazon. I would recommend this to any older children who want to take racing to a new level.
Disclosure: We received this special preview Hot Wheels RC Drone Racerz sample for the purposes of writing this review, however all thoughts and opinions remain our own.