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Friday, November 14, 2008

Hot Wheels Review

With two boys, I knew it wouldn't be long until we entered the world of Hot Wheels. Sure we had the cars, but we had yet to get one of the sets were the cars shoot off into some sort of track. Thus when the Parent Bloggers Network was looking for people to review the Triple Stunt Starter Set and The Power Loop Starter Set, I was immediately interested.

My kids liked both sets but they particular like the Power Loop Starter Set. Basically it's a long ramp that attaches to a clamp attached to a table or other high surface. We used a step stool. In case you're wondering, the clamp is included although one of my kids intitally ran off with it causing me to think that the clamp wasn't included. The car starts up high, and then goes underneath into a loop sending a second car actually through the loop which then goes into a battery operated power loop (it does have a manual mood) setting off another car to go through the motorized loop many many times before shooting off much to my kids delight. The only drawback to this one is that it only comes with one car when in fact you need three to have the whole thing work. I would say another down side if you don't like toys with batteries is that you need batteries, but again this toy has a manual mode.

The Triple Stunt starts with the car in the loop. You press the green button and the car shoots off down the ramp and intersects with a catapult. That where it's journey ends. However, like the other set, it sets off the next car which slides into a crane. This part is important. If you put a third car in the crane, when the second car hits the crane, the crane will drop the third car onto a lever which will release a fourth car that will go flying down the track. The problem is that this set also only comes with one car. On a positive note, you can rearrange the tracks to come up with your own combo so perhaps crane, followed by loop followed by straight track.

Overall, this has been a good toy. Although originally I was frustrated with the directions, once it was together it was well worth my time. I like that the sets are designed to work with multiple sets and that it encourages the kids to be creative with the track designs. I also like that they are easy for my kids to operate by themselves. A big drawback to me though was that each set only comes with one car and that your need that style of car to work in the set. I just wish it had been marked on the box particularly because since the sets each contained one car I thought the pictures in the directions were of that one car instead of multiple cars and thus added to my confusion.

Another tip would be that for the Triple Stunt Set that the green and red rubber bands are already installed which I know because I took apart the pieces looking for them. They include spare ones for replacements. Also the plastic tabs in the track slide into the next track; there's a set of what looks like rails on the bottom of each track. Just slide the tab in there and it will be secure. The green buttons are launch buttons and allegedly the red buttons are reset buttons for the Triple Stunt Set, but I never saw any red buttons.

When I was in my third trimester of my first pregnancy, my husband and I try to set up a Pack N Play. We just could not understand the directions. We even read reviews of the product where people complained about the same thing. After taking a few breaks from it over a couple day period, we were able to figure it out and we realized that actually it was quite easy to assemble. In fact once I tossed the directions aside and just looked at the picture on the box, it became a lot easier to assemble. That is the way I felt about these sets. I suspected that people who already owned Hot Wheels track sets would have no problem setting it up and read a review of this set where the blogger's child had no problem assembling it. After I set up the first set, it was much easier to set up the second set.

Would I purchase this toy as a gift? Yes, I would. Again, it was worth the frustation. However, I highly advise you look at the pictures on the boxes and to check out Kariana's review of it. She actually includes a video of her kids playing with it which is ultimately how I figured out how to work the Power Loop Starter Set.

posted by Alex Elliot @ 7:44 AM 0 comments

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Name:	Alex Elliot
Home:	MA, United States
About Me:	Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
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