To put it in simple terms, this hovercraft is big. It is, in fact, 18 1/2" long. It's made by Fast Lane and you can only find it in Toys R Us stores. It's got one of the most advanced styles of any toy grade RC hovercraft ever made.
This is what it looks like when the skirt is deflated:
And this is what it looks like when it's inflated:
The skirt on the X-Craft is very soft and lightweight, which should allow it to go over some bumps in the terrain. The X-Craft has a vertical fan that sucks air downward, pushing the vehicle up so that it's floating above the surface. Because the X-Craft has no wheels, there are also two large fans in the rear that push air away from the vehicle, propelling it foreword.
The controller for the X-Craft is skid-steering, which means that it drives like a tank, in which you push both joysticks to go forward, both backward to brake (the X-Craft can't go backwards), push one joystick to make it turn and vise versa. You can also spin 360 degrees by pushing one joystick forwards and the other joystick backwards.
There's also a little button at the top of the controller that makes the skirt deflate so the X-Craft will come sliding to a halt.
The X-Craft also comes with a 12-volt NiMH battery and battery charger. You simply plug in the wall charger into an electrical outlet with the battery attached. It takes a normal four hours.
TESTING
When you put the X-Craft on the ground for the first time you will find it to be FAAAAAAST. Really fast. Super duper fast! One video on YouTube remarked on how it's top speed is THIRTY Km per hour!!! And they even proved it by showing the X-Craft chase after a car that was going thirty Km per hour! In other words, that's faster than the Titanic could go at top speed. You can barely keep up with this thing, and whenever we hold races against people, it usually wins. Get the idea? Good. Even though you can try it on "other" terrain, it's still a great amount of fun on pavement.
When I meant "other" terrain, I meant water. Yes, the X-Craft does glide on the top of the water. It's even more thrilling than on land when you watch the huge wake of water flow in a skinny line behind the X-Craft. Even though it kind of drags on the water a little bit, it's still flying on it's own cushion of air. Whenever I open the battery door after a water run, the battery is completely dry, something you might not expect. Do be careful, though. If you run out of battery on the water, the X-Craft will gradually sink. If you can't get to it in time, you have just witnessed Titanic #2.
ANY DOWNSIDES?
The X-Craft is not meant for little kids. Because there is hardly any friction with the ground, it pretty much drifts everywhere and doesn't want to stay in a straight line. Little kids, particularly, will find this very frustrating and might as well result in some exercise, as they constantly have to run over to the X-Craft, pick it up, and set it back to a spot where it won't crash for another ten seconds. Also, the battery only lasts about fifteen minutes every time you use the X-Craft, although this is pretty standard for toy-grade RCs today.
CONCLUSION
Bigger kids and grown-ups will get the most and best enjoyment out of the X-Craft. Despite being hard to control, once you get used to it, the X-Craft is a real pleasure, and one that will stick with you for quite a while. It never gets old watching it zip through the water or racing it to your heart's content. If a TOY-GRADE RC vehicle can go faster than the Titanic itself, I think we can all agree that we have a big hit.
There's no video review this time, but you can see a video of X-Craft up on my blog if you click right here (but if you are reading this on my blog right now, don't go anywhere, there's a video right under this post).
GRADE: A+
