The Lazer Stunt Chaser from Thinkway Toys is no ordinary R/C car. This car is a “Light Powered Stunt Car” that drives by following a beam of light. If you have ever played with a cat by having him chase a laser pointer you already know how to operate this car. That’s the unique feature of this little racer. In order to control it all you need to do is aim the controller 6” to 8” in front of the car and it follows the light. Aim it to the left, it goes left. Shine the light behind the car and it backs up. It’s actually pretty cool. If you get in a tough spot, you can also use the 3 buttons on the controller to turn or backup.
In the package you’ll find the car, the remote controller, charger and a ramp. Set up is pretty easy. Just a matter of installing 8 AA batteries (not included). Two batteries go into the controller and six into the car charger. Once you install the batteries, you need to attach the car to the charger for a few minutes to charge up its internal battery. Then you are ready to race. Running time will vary, but after 10-15 minutes it was still going. If you want to race another car you can set one the A channel and the other to B. This is an easy setting to change on the side of the car.
The ramp snaps together in four different configurations giving more variety to way this car will jump and flip. And that is one of the cool features of this car, it can flip and roll, then keep on going! The wheels are tall, so whether the car is right-side up or upside-down, it just keeps going. And unlike conventional R/C cars, you won’t get confused about left or right it just keeps on following the light.
Kids will have a lot of fun racing around the house and setting up bigger and bigger jumps. You can also buy more ramps and loop-to-loops, so that you can have endless variety of indoor racetracks.
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So how did it actually work? Overall, just as advertised. However, the set-up does seem to work better on a smooth surface, but it even works in a carpeted room. Though not necessary, dimming the lights made it more fun to play with since you could see the light beam better and also see that the wheels light up and flash. That said, it was a bit difficult to control at high speeds as it often darted to the right or left unexpectedly. But again, crashing is half the fun, ‘cause you can just keep on racing. I think it just takes a bit of practice to get it down real good.
Conclusion
The Lazer Stunt Chaser is a lot of fun, and should be especially enjoyable for younger kids. This would be a great starter R/C car since the basic controls are so simple, though it may take an older kid to be able to master it. Currently the Lazer Stunt Chaser is available for as low as $59 on Amazon, but the MSRP is $39.99.
The Good: Neat light beam effects and great moves, unique R/C car with unique abilities, great starter R/C car
The Bad: A bit difficult to control.
