Sunday, March 10, 2013

Mario Kart Micro RC Racing Vehicle Hands-On Review

IMPRESSIONS

At only four inches long, this micro RC Mario Kart racing vehicle (no manufacturer given) will always be one of the smallest RC vehicles I will ever test. If you look at the box, an advertisement says "authentic detailing." That's only about half-true. Mario himself looks great; they did a good job painting him, but the car itself really skimps on colors. It has only three colors plus some ugly gray in the rear where the fake exhaust pipes are located, which are pretty much the only part of the car that look as good as Mario.

The controller is probably the simplest design ever created. You have basic forward-back and left-right steering. The only thing on the controller that's semi-original is the charging jack on the back of the remote. You plug this into the bottom of the car and it will charge it up. Takes about fifteen minutes. 

TESTING

When you put the car down on the ground, you will find it to be a bit slow. The speed isn't terrible, but not too exciting either. If the vehicle is turning to the left or to the right without your asking it to, all you have to do is adjust the trim knob on the bottom of the vehicle.

For my next test of this vehicle, I put it onto some really nice low-pile carpet that almost any RC would be able to handle. It indeed got stuck a few times, and the speed dropped a little, but it did go over the carpet just fine. Sound like a good RC? Well, you haven't heard everything yet.

ANY DOWNSIDES?

Be prepared for a really long paragraph. This car has many faults if you look closer. Every time you try to turn right, the vehicle will spin out no matter what. That sounds really cool, but every time the car spins out, it just keeps spinning out even when you try to turn in the opposite direction. It wasn't terribly annoying when it first started doing this, but the longer I had to put up with these really annoying spin-outs, the more I came to hate this car.

I had problems with the steering on carpet too. Here, the car would hardly turn at all. The problem is that the front wheels aren't powerful enough to turn on even the lowest low-pile carpet you can find. If the front wheels were more powerful, this car would be able to drive and turn on carpet just fine. But as it is, this vehicle's a failure on carpet too.

CONCLUSION

This Micro RC Mario Kart Racing Vehicle will be most enjoyed by younger kids who don't care how the car performs. Any other age, however, will take notes of the car's flaws and disappointments and will outgrow it soon after receiving it. Sorry Mario, but it looks like you're not going to "win" any races any time soon.

 Check out my full video review of this disastrous RC car!

        

GRADE: D