Toy Review: Tyco R/C Terrainiac

Having two boys in the house, three if you count my husband, I thought that I would be the perfect choice for the review of the R/C Tyco toy, the Terrainiac. Tim (16) and Jaden (8) love the outdoors. Normally they do not like the same toys, being as far apart in age as they are, but the Terrainiac was a definite exception.

The manufacture recommends this car for ages eight and older. This is one toy where I agree completely. Every male in the house absolutely adored it. I have to admit, I found it pretty cool, too. The biggest problem I had with it was separating the fighting boys who wanted to play with it and refused to share as much as they should have. In the scheme of things, especially concerning a review, I suppose that’s not such a bad thing.

Requirements:
Tyco thought of everything here by offering a toy that is complete right out of box. You will not have to purchase anything, as batteries and the works have been added for your ease of use. Normally, the Terrainiac needs a 9.6V battery and two AA batteries. However, both of these required items have been included so you just need to take it out of the box and charge it before use.

Basics:
The Terrainiac is an R/C car that is an outdoor lover’s dream. Not only can you run the Terrainiac on gravel, concrete, and other hard surfaces, it can also be placed in water and in snow! This makes it incredibly versatile and lots of fun. If you get tired with one setting you can take it to the next. The experience is loads of fun as you see how the Terrainiac responds on land and water, where it is more powerful, and how fast and far it can really go.

In Depth Information:
The Terrainiac comes in blue and green models. We received the green. Tim set everything up and took Jaden outside when it was time to play. From the first run around the driveway both boys were in love. The car goes incredibly fast or at least, much faster than other RC cars the boys currently own.

The Terrainiac only has three wheels. The two front wheels are standard and the back wheel offers rear Sphere Drive, which is one of the coolest features of the car. Everything is pretty futuristic where the Terrainiac is concerned. The car has a spring near the top that allows the car to go over some big bumps and still keep moving and there are paddles that handle the water aspects of play.

The controller has you twisting it when you want to steer or if you want to go forward or back there are paddles near the top of the controller. Both boys loved the speed aspects of the Terrainiac. While no one was clocking the actual movements, I would say it was somewhere between 10-20 mph, though I would guess it was closer to 20mph as opposed to 10mph. As it drives, the back wheel twists to the side, which makes the front end turn, as well.

Tim was manning the controls until the batteries needed to be charged their first time out. He really liked how things worked on the asphalt because the controller gives the handler a great amount of power. The speed was at its fastest, and he was able to get it to do donuts, which both boys thought was awesome. When it was time for Jaden to handle the controls they took it onto the road, which is dirt. He loved the drifting action that he was able to kick up. It was a little slower, but given the unstable and bumpy terrain I would think that was to be expected.

As we live near the beach, the boys took it in on the sand and then in the water. The sand was significantly slower than the gravel or asphalt, but it was still moving and kicking up sand along the way. On water, the Terrainiac is really amazing to watch. While it’s not incredibly fast, the experience of having a water driven vehicle that’s not a boat is incredibly fun.

The water was pretty calm on the day that we tried it out. Steering worked well and we didn’t have any problems. This was the point when my husband really began to pay attention. From the looks of it, the appearance of the water exploding around the rear tire just appealed to him, as it did all of us.

You can also run the Terrainiac on snow. While it is not cold enough to snow just yet and we don’t live in an area where snow happens, we will be visiting some family up north and the boys will be taking this with them. They can’t wait to see it ripping across the snow and neither can my husband.

There isn’t much else to say except that the Terrainiac was a winner!

Bottom Line:
Receiving a powerful toy that includes everything necessary to put it in working order right out of the box is a rarity. It’s also incredibly appealing when you normally need batteries and other accessories to even get something moving. Tyco created the complete package with the Terrainiac and it’s an incredible toy from top to bottom. This is one toy that is worth every cent.

Technorati Tags: Terrainiac, Tyco, RC Car, Drives on Snow, Water, Land, Drifting, Donuts, Remote Controlled, Hot Holiday Toy

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Being a stay at home mom to three kids and a freelance writer keeps Lisa quite busy. Lisa is the wife of Patrick and the mother of Tim (17), Jaden (9), and Kayla (3). Having a toddler in the house makes things quite interesting. Lisa is an aspiring writer. She loves working for LI Kids because she can get the whole family involved in the reviewing process and write, which is her passion. In her free time she loves sewing and scrapbooking.