Vehicle Reviews

My son recently received the Circus Train for his 2nd birthday. He was really excited to see the animals, and loves to put them in the cage cars and drive them around the track. He has been very frustrated, however, because his train can't fit through any tunnels or bridges when the animals are on board - the animals are just too tall. I think the Circus Train would be a great addition to your Thomas Wooden Railway IF you don't have the bridges or tunnels to worry about. If you do have these items in your layout, I'd suggest the Ivo Hugh zoo set instead, as it is made to fit through those low clearance areas.

Why would they meke a train that won't go under their own bridges?

I took the advice of the reviewer below and got the Alphazoo Express line instead of this, and I am so pleased. My nieces just love the little plastic animals. They are much better then these cut outs. THANKS!!

My husband and I purchased these tricycles for our 2 year old twins. They live on these tricycles during summer and love them so much. The push bar was great for when they were learning to navigate them, now they are pros! They especially love to ring the bell. We bought them baskets to put on them to gather things when we go on walks and they couldn't be happier. We have never had any problems with them tipping over or with any of the parts. When putting them together we were careful in following the directions and have no problems with them at all. I highly recommend them, they are a great price for all the fun they will have!

We got this cute trike for our toddler and it was falling apart 2 weeks after christmas. The handles totally come out of the base and it just crumbled to the crowd. We tightened it and everything a # of times and yet it still falls apart!!! BEWARE!!! this could be a safety recall issue.

Like the other reviewers, I am sorry I purchased this trike. I too had a moment of nostalgia and always thought Radio Flyer created good products, therefore, I bought it for my grandsons. It is very easily tipped over which leads to lots of tears and frustration. The handlebars are constantly crooked and it's driven me nuts trying to "right" them. For preschoolers, I'd recommend Step 2's Tractor--very durable, easy to pedal, and kids love it (especially with the cart/wagon accessory attached), and it's never tipped over. I've learned my lesson: Always check out the reviews on Amazon before purchasing toys.

the rockets i usually launch go about 1500-3000 feet inthe air so this to wasn't as good ,but then the rockets i like have fire come out of the bottom and are more fun yet the get lost to easy you have to go a big place to luanch them and the engines are sold separtly. Then again this has to do with house old items and is cheaper.

Our 9-yr old son is a baking-soda-and-vinegar nut, so this rocket was a must-try. We did find it a bit picky to put together, but we haven't had any durability problems. Clearly, one is paying for the rubber stopper/plastic tube design, which certainly could be improved (I agree it's hard to get the wing nut to tighten properly), but still is the only one I've seen that gives a real rocket-sized blast. Our trouble has been getting it to stand upright for launching -- we had quite a few horizontal launches before we found a just-right sized plastic cup to stand it in. All in all, we're pleased.

This toy is one of the better toys I have found. My son (7) with a little assistance put the kit toghether. It flew first time much to the amusement of the family. The fins bend easily but if reinforced with some extra foil they keep the rocket upright for launch. This is an intresting'family' toy.

The battery position makes this plane "nose heavy " and ours never did get off the ground. In addition, the small nuts which hold the rear landing gear loosen up due to the vibration which could lead to losing the wheel. As "first time" R/C enthusiasts, we were very disappointed by the performance of this plane.

Easy enough to fly and do so in a VERY large field on a very calm day.

Turns done at low altitude readily lead to spins and crashes

Controls let you climb with motor power and make left and right turns that readily turn into spins.

I have crashed plenty as a part of my learning and now I want at least a 3 channel and preferably a 4 channel plane

Lack of proportional controls means turns are done with small corrective left rights otherwise it is spin and crash city.

Thick clear packing tape repairs most of the damage done on the foam wings and tail

My brother got the Outlaw,but it doesnt fly! Mine did and it was windy also. His flew away mine didnt

I hated this toy. it barely ever got going over 15 mph. the toy SUCKS....

Guess what. This plane doesn't fly. It's weak motor can barely hold the plane up. It sucks at turning, crashes often, and you can't land it saftly. Basically it sucks overall, isn't any fun because u can barely control it, and it's a great waste of $100. DO NOT BUY THIS PLANE!!!

the sky vector rc airplain look's good when you see the body but when you fly it you wouldn't have that much fun with it. When I got it I tought it would be better than by other rc airplane. When I first flew it it flew good but it doesn't make good turns as other airplains for first time flyers. When I landed it the tail broke because it doesn't have a landing gear, that's the worst part, but I taped the tail. And when I flew it the other day it flew good and it landed slowly. The next day when I was flying it it went strait for this trees I was trying to change diractions but, just like I said it doesn't make good turns, it didn't turn. So it got stuck on the tree. I had no choise but to wait antil some wind get it dowen. I kept checking everyday, one day it got lower and got stuck on another branch. Two weeks had passed and most of those days were lot's of rain. On the next day when I checked it got even lower and I brought three broom sticks and taped them each other and got my plain dowen the wing was damaged. when I got home and tryed it the electronics inside it were dameged by the rain so I just took it apart and took out the motor and servo. So if you are a starter I wouldn't recomand this rc plane.

My son has the John Deere Power Pull Tractor which uses this battery. Due to the numerous complaints about the battery, and because the battery that came with the tractor only lasts about 30 minutes before needing a recharge, I decided to take a different route.

I bought a 12 volt battery intended for lawn tractors/snow mobiles/etc. It will cost a heck of a lot less than Peg Perego's battery.

I then spliced the wires from the tractor, the red one is positive, obviously, and connected them to the battery. I then used a piece of wire to hold the new battery down. It works perfectly and literally runs an entire day before needing a recharge. And of course I use a car battery charger to charge it.

So, you'll save money and you kids will get MUCH more enjoyment!

We have two of the Peg Perego vehicles - the Jeep Gaucho Grande and a John Deere Gator. The original batteries seemed to do okay and lasted about a year and a half (including the months of Nov-Feb when the toys weren't being used). I ordered two new batteries last year and they no longer work. I am extremely dissapointed (...) and my kids are mad that they can't ride the toys any more. It makes me sick!

We bought our's and the battery lasted maybe 1 day!!! It has been sitting in our storage shed for a year now... I was going to buy another battery, but half scared to. I didn't know there was a recall....

I would rather buy a different brand!

The caterpillar "wheels" on Terrance's regular wheels are removable which, any Mom will tell you, is a pain in the rear to continually have to keep putting back on. We finally ditched the caterpillar covers and just use Terrance as a regular train car. Unfortunately, he has no magnetic button on his front, so he always has to be the front "engine". This is more of a filler toy for your set should you decide you really want him. Thankfully, ours came as an extra with a LTD EDITION video. There are so many other great cars to purchase, I'd say skip this one and purchase another.

Well, I bought Terrence a long time ago. As soon as he was taken out of his box, his treads were off. After spending numerous hours looking for them, I decided to leave them off & put them in a safe place. That's the best thing that one can do. Besides, it's really no fun to have a Thomas train that you can't use with the others. So, take my advice, just take the treads off as soon as you take him out of the box. Good luck!

My three year old son wanted this train specifically because the treads or tires as he calls them were removable. I understand this might not be a good thing if your child likes to put things in his/her mouth (fortunately my son does not) however, it does work on the track without the treads (Terence does have a magnet in the back). My son loves to take the treads off and use the train on the track to pull the other trains. He puts the treads back on and uses Terence outside the track. He loves the orange color and thinks it's a pretty neat train. I don't particularly find this toy as educational but it is fun and works great with his train set.

A great toy but it will not steer right nor left. Also lacks power.

I bought him several toys for his last birthday and this one is his favorite!

My 31/2 year old son received this for Christmas. He loved it and wanted to play with it all the time! However, the tracks on the bulldozer came off after only a few days..we put them back on, but they continued to come off frequently. The sound of it was WAY TOO LOUD!! Fortunatly, the sounds quit working after 2 months (even with new batteries) Eventually the plastic on it cacked, and I pitched the whole thing. I'm sticking to the metal trucks from now on!!

People seem to be complaining about how hard it is to put together and to keep the cars on the track. It must have taken me 10 minutes tops to assemble, and both my 4-year old and 18-month old have figured out that the cars fly off if you go flat out. If an 18-month old child can figure it out enough to do several laps without losing control it can't be that difficult now can it.

As for the value, this would be cheap at twice the price. My kids love it, we've got two sets combined now and it gives you even more racing room.

Howdy all:

For some other opinions check out the comments from folks who purchased the track with the Blue and Black cars. Seems like they're pretty happy. Maybe the darker colors are easier to control? I dunno...

Anyways, my five year old daughter and I have recently gotten into slot cars and after doing a lot of research I settled on the Artin 1/43 scale cars. These kits are cheap which means that you can buy a lot of track for little money. They're smaller so that you can setup complex courses without losing ALL of your living room and its easier for little hands to manipulate the parts. The cars durable and if you're like us we love to use 'em as demolition derby cars so keeping them on the track isn't our entire goal. Spare cars are cheap and are easy to modify to make your own hot rod (which makes for some great craft projects if you don't want junior watching TV all day long).

The 1/43 scale Artin kits (and the brands they OEM for) are not realistic, high end or collectors products. However they are great for just messing around with and you don't need to spend hundreds of dollars to have a huge/cool course. If you want realistic details, tons of aftermarket upgrades (power supplies, motors, etc) and surgical control stick with the higher end 1/32 brands. For me I'm sticking with Artin.

So that's my opinion, your mileage may vary

Regarding the other two reviews which found fault with the fact that the cars fly off the track too much, I would like to suggest that this is exactly what they are supposed to do. The only element of skill in slot-car racking is the fact that the cars spin out when you go around a corner too fast, and you have to adjust the speed accordingly. That's the point. It takes skill to do it. That's why it's racing. If the cars stayed perfectly on the track, this would be the most boring toy in the world. Just turn on the switch and they go around in circles forever. Yawn! Get a model train instead. (That said, there is one problem with this particular set... there is too little track such that the straights are too short and it is difficult to speed up on the straights and slow down for the turns consistently.)

Anyhow, with that in mind, let me say that my sister gave my 6-year old son a set like this (not exaclty the same, but it's by "Fast Lane," Toys-R-Us, the only difference I detect is that it has two pick-up trucks instead of two cars) this Christmas, and he has found it to be fun (though I probably play with it more). Sure the car flies off the track a lot, but it's easy to put back on, and he has figured out that if you don't just jam the throttle full blast you can go around consistently.

Let's also keep in mind here the fact that the set costs $10.

We have them all!! My son loves Hot Wheels and we have tried them all. Most of the time, we are highly disappointed in the quality and how quickly things fall apart, but we have been pleasantly surprised by this one. It stays together, is easy to put away and put back together. We give this one an "A."

At first we were bummed that when the red button was pushed, nothing would happen!!! Then after messing around with it for a while we noticed the button on the bottom had to be on a hard service to activate launch (we also used cardboard while playing on the carpet) Once that was figured out my boys ages 7 & 2 had a blast!!!! Be advised while allowing younger children to join in the fun, there are small pieces (rubberband)

You can use hotwheels cars and trucks with this track, an added bonus in my book. Overall I am very satisfied and wanted to clear up the start-gate issue..

This quote best explains the start gate, "drag-race start gate with a fair-start feature to weed out the cheaters". Its this fair-start feature I believe is being mistaken for a broken start gate. There is a button on the bottom of the 4-speed launcher that must be engaged before the start of the race and by being on a hard surface keeps it engaged all the time. If your not on a hard surface, i.e. on carpet, you may need to put a piece of cardboard underneath for the button to be engaged. Than you start the green start token, and once it gets to the bottom of the x-mas tree start. You can press the launch buttons and the race begins. If you press the launch button before the token gets to the bottom (i.e. a redlight in drag racing), the cars will not go anywhere and seem broke, when it is not.