IMPROVING YOUR CHILD'S RC CAR DRIVING EXPERIENCE: A GUIDE FOR PARENTS

Remote-controlled (RC) cars are a popular choice among kids for playtime fun. However, the joy of controlling these miniature vehicles can sometimes be overshadowed by frustration when maneuvering becomes difficult. 

Besides, let’s be honest here. How many parents have had to secretly replace or throw off an RC toy that got damaged in a matter of days? Kids are all sorts of fun, but they can go through toys fairly quickly. RC cars are always at high risk because not every child gets the hang of it!

Why you need to improve the driving experience 

Children, especially those with limited driving experience, can find it challenging to control RC toys effectively. 

Maneuvering the car around obstacles or through tight spaces requires a certain level of skill and coordination. Without prior experience, kids may struggle to navigate smoothly, leading to frustration and dissatisfaction with the toy. For instance, kids who don’t know how to ride a bicycle are more likely to crash their RC car! 

Additionally, repeated instances of the car getting stuck can diminish the enjoyment of the play experience. By enhancing the driving experience, you can help your child overcome these challenges and fully enjoy their RC car adventures. 

Choosing an age-appropriate toy 

There’s no secret here. Selecting the right RC car for your child's age and skill level is crucial in ensuring an enjoyable play experience. Opt for models that are specifically designed for beginners or young children, and that are easy to navigate. These typically feature simplified controls and are easier to operate. Look for cars with rugged designs and bulky sizes, as these factors contribute to greater stability and control. Avoid purchasing advanced models with complex features that may overwhelm or frustrate your child.

Installing bearings 

One effective way to improve the performance of an RC car is by installing bearings. Bearings are small metal components that reduce friction between moving parts, such as wheels and axles. By replacing the stock bushings with bearings, you can enhance the car's efficiency and maneuverability. The good news is: You can find plenty of YouTube tutorials on how to replace those for RC toys, and you can find cost-effective quality bearings from specialist suppliers, such as this Chinese bearing manufacturer. 

You won’t believe the difference bearings can make. They enable the car to move more freely, so it becomes easier for kids to control. Another advantage of bearings, they help prolong the life of the car by reducing wear and tear on critical components. 

Installing suspensions 

Another modification that can significantly enhance the driving experience is installing custom suspensions. We all know what suspensions do. They absorb shocks and vibrations. They do exactly the same for toy cars and help create a smoother ride on various terrains. 

For RC cars, especially those controlled by beginners, custom suspensions can make a world of difference in handling and stability. They allow you to adjust the car's ride height and stiffness to suit your child's preferences and driving style, and to accommodate the terrain. So, if you’ve got a bumpy yard, this is a golden opportunity! 

In conclusion, there’s so much you could do to create a fun RC experience for a younger or less experienced kid. When you think it only takes a few modifications for your kids to drive the RC car with confidence and ease, there’s no reason not to do it!

MAX FLEX TRACER RACERS

Max Traxxx Tracer Racers were my kids favorite toy that we reviewed on ageekdaddy.com last year. They still play a lot with these 1:64 scale remote control toy cars that blaze a trail of light behind them as they race around a track made of glow-in-the-dark material.  So they were really excited when Skullduggery Toys sent us a new variation released this year to try out called MAX FLEX RC.

MAX FLEX RC still has miniature remote control toy cars racing around a track but now you can customize the shape and layout of courses with flexible roadway segments that can be bended and twisted up, down, left and right.  This opens up a new level of fun in creatively building courses to race around and driving your cars through the track. Create a Grand Prix style course full of turns and curves, a stunt course filled with ramps to jump and bridges to cross, or a track inspired by an off-road rally style race with MAX FLEX RC.

While the original Tracer Racers tracks simulated street drag racing, the new Flex segments replicate off-road driving. MAX FLEX RC track sets provide both an on and off road racing sensation as Tracer Racers zoom up to 500 mph scaled speed for their size.  The new course configurations and conditions available with Flex tracks add a new level of excitement and entertainment to playing with Tracer Racers.



Though the track style has been altered with MAX FLEX RC, it still maintains the thrilling glow-in-the-dark effects of Max Traxxx tracks. The flexible segments of MAX FLEX RC actually take it up a notch being able take them apart to increase or decrease their size as well as allow for the creation of a crisscross pattern of orange and blue panels that creates a super looking glow-in-the-dark effect. In addition to the glowing aspect of the track, Tracer Racers toy cars also project purple light rays down from their undercarriage which leaves a blaze of color behind them, day or night, that is a really impressive looking visual effect.



Your Tracer Racers zip around a track directed by a remote control that lets you alter the toy cars speed and whether it is going forward or in reverse. Powered by 4 AA batteries (not included) these remote controls also are used to charge the toy cars. When not being played with a Tracer Racer car can also be clipped to the top of a remote control to keep track of the toys.

Skullduggery took a toy my family already loved and improved on it. So obviously, the MAX FLEX RC track sets are going to get A Geek Daddy nod of approval. There are three options you can choose from: Max Flex 200 Piece, Max Flex 250 Piece, and Max Flex 300 Piece track sets. Also Max Flex sets are compatible with the original Max Traxxx track pieces providing even more variation to the possible race courses you can put together to run your Tracer Racers on.

We've had a wonderful time playing around with the MAX FLEX RC track set and want to share our enjoyment with our ageekdaddy.com blog readers and social media followers. Thanks to Skullduggery Toys, we have a MAX FLEX RC track set with 2 remote control Tracer Racers to giveaway. Who wants it?!

One lucky winner will be selected randomly from all eligible entrants. For a chance to win complete the entries in the rafflecopter form below by 11:59 pm on December 9, 2018. Must be a United States resident over 18 years old to participate in the giveaway. Skullduggery Toys will be responsible for delivery of the prize once ageekdaddy.com has selected a winner and provided his or her contact info to them. You must reply back within 48 hours once contacted about winning this giveaway with your contact information or an alternate winner will be selected. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Read our past Max Traxxx review here. For additional information or to purchase a MAX FLEX RC track set, please go to skullduggery.com

MUSTANG TRACER RACERS

I braved going out in the rain this summer to see a Ford display near our house during the Woodward Dream Cruise showcasing the first pony car the company ever sold alongside the 10 millionth one they've built.  I'm obviously a bit of a motorhead! It was a great exhibit that provided a close up look at Ford's classic sports cars as well as their high performance GT supercars worth getting soaking wet to see. With that in mind, have to admit that I was probably more excited than my kids to discover that Skullduggery had partnered with Ford to incorporate Mustangs into one of my son and daughter's favorite toys … Tracer Racers Remote Control Race Cars.

The Tracer Racers Remote Control Jump Set comes with a sharp looking blue Ford Mustang remote control toy car and a Max Traxxx track to race it on. The race track includes fast straightaways, four banked turns, a lane changer segment, and a wicked cool skill jump ramp. Hit the ramp at just the right speed to get enough air to stick your landing and do a full loop around the track.



Mess up your jump? Well than watch your Mustang switch from being a racer to a stunt car doing some amusing flips to take in. Hey you'll still have fun watching your Tracer Racer crash when playing around with this Remote Control Jump Set.



This new Max Traxxx set is perfect for both beginning and advanced Tracer Racers fans as variable speed remote control cars, a skill jump, and adjustable track heights allow racers to control course difficulty. Master launching and landing your toy RC Mustang to take things up a notch by racing through multiple laps without crashing. Do you have what it takes to earn bragging rights for being the best Tracer Racer?

Tracer Racers Remote Control Jump Sets feature the impressive glow-in-the-dark Max Traxxx tracks Skullduggery Toys are known for. The remote control Mustangs that come packaged within this playset also utilize the toy manufacturer's patented Light Trail Technology which creates the appearance that the car is leaving a blazing streak behind it as it racers over the tracks. Racing Tracer Racers on Max Traxxx tracks in the dark is a really awesome experience that will thrill kids and kids-at-heart.





The Tracer Racers Remote Control Jump Set is compatible to connect or mix and match track segments with other Max Traxxx playsets including the Infinity Loop as well as add-on accessories that are available to purchase separately including 10 foot track segments, duel corners, and a starting gate/lap counter. Be creative in customizing your own track layouts to race your friends and family on.



You can also purchase the blue pony car as well as a Mustang police cruiser separately.  The police car actually has roof lights that activate when the car starts to drive around. That really wowed my kids! Both cars interact with their included controllers using infrared racers and each of these toys hold a charge for 20 minutes or more, work at distances more than 30 feet, and race at 500 MPH scale speeds.

Vroom! Vroom! Who is ready to race?! Tracer Racers are great toys for dads and moms to enjoy along with their kids.  Have some quality family time being entertained with Max Traxxx Tracer Racers from Skullduggery Toys. They've earned A Geek Daddy nod of approval because my whole family loves playing with them. You have to appreciate a toy that brings everyone together to have a fun time.

For more information, zoom over to skullduggery.com. Also check out their social media outlets on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. You can also read my past review of Tracer Racers here.

A Geek Daddy received the featured products for free to review. Opinions expressed are honest and my own. Yes my kids really do love these toys and Tracer Racers was their favorite toy we reviewed on ageekdaddy.com in 2017 so they were thrilled to have the chance to play with some of these new items. Oh yeah, I was pretty geeked to take these Mustangs for a drive myself too!

Max Traxxx Tracer Racers

My kids and I have been having a lot of fun playing around with the Max Traxxx Tracer Racers Remote Control Infinity Loop from Skullduggery.  These 1/64 scale remote control toy cars whiz across a track that has been formulated so that they leave behind glowing tire marks while racing around.  And these race cars can really go fast with a top to-scale speed of 500 miles per hour!



Seeing these cars streak light across the track is sure to make you go wow!  The effect is created by a combination of a special plastic used in constructing the tracks and purple light rays emitted from each car's undercarriage producing a glow along the race course.  This looks impressive in the light  but racing in the dark is even more spectacular!



The toy set comes with two cars (red and blue colored) which are each directed by separate included remote controls so they can be raced independently against one another at the same time.  The RCs don't control the direction of the cars which follow the plastic sleeves that make up the track around the course, but rather allow you to determine their speed and whether you are going in forward or reverse.  If you go too fast you'll flip off the track but don't have enough momentum and you won't be able to make it through the loop. 

It takes a bit of practice to get a feel for the RC and controlling the cars around the track but once you get it down they are fairly easy to control and lots of fun!  My eight year olds became good Max Traxxx Tracer Racers drivers very quickly. This is a great toy for dads and moms to play along with their kids.  I was having as much fun as my kids were playing with the Max Traxxx Tracer Racers Remote Control Infinity Loop.  Be warned that competing against friends and family with these toy cars that literally look like they are burning up the track can become very addictive!  My family has spent hours racing against each other.

A nice aspect of this toy set is that the track doesn't require batteries or being plugged in to electricity.  You just snap it together and place the race cars upon it.  The two remote controls are each powered by 4 AA batteries (8 total needed and not included) plus you plug the cars into their designated RC to charge.  All in all this works out efficiently and so far despite all the use we've had with this toy set we're still on our first eight batteries.

Here are a few tips for enjoying your Max Traxxx Tracer Racers:

Make sure all the pieces are connected really tightly because gaps and loose ends will cause crashes as the cars are racing.  During the course of racing take occasional breaks to realign all the track pieces to make sure everything is smoothly connected as the cars flying around the track will cause mild separation amongst segments from time to time.  Taking a few seconds now and then to do this will avoid frustration of cars constantly crashing due to hitting bumps or grooves.

You can't go all out at the car's fastest speed across the whole track without crashing.  Adjusting speed to slow down at corners and speed up to get through the Infinity Loop is a must to avoid flipping your car off the track.  As your hand-eye coordination and feel for using  the remote control improves your overall speed for traversing the course will elevate.  Often times it is not who can do the most laps the fastest that wins a race but rather it is the car that avoids crashing that is the winner.  There is a lot of satisfaction achieved though when you master the RC so your can is zipping through the course repeatedly without crashing.

When recharging a car make sure the RC unit power switch is in the "charge" position rather than at the on or off spots and the toy vehicle is switched off.  When done charging make sure both the RC and car are turned off then turn them both on to sync them and you'll be ready to roll.  To conserve battery power both the RC and car will go into sleep mode if left on and not used for 30 minutes.  Just toggle their switches a few times to wake them up.

Pick yourself up a Max Traxxx Tracer Racers Remote Control Infinity Loop toy set and follow the tips above to have yourself as much fun as my family has had.  It is available on Amazon.com through the Skullduggery approved FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) seller 4% Change for Children.  Every Sunday, Monday and Tuesday from now through Christmas, 4% Change for Children offers a $20 off coupon for the Max Traxxx Tracer Racers Infinity Loop set.  Plus 4% Change for Children each year donates 4% of its net profits from the previous year AND 4% of its employees' working hours to non-profit organizations that help children learn, grown and live better lives.

You can also learn more about Max Traxxx toys by visiting the Skullduggery website.  While there you can also purchase toys directly from the manufacturer.  In addition to remote control race cars, Skullduggery has a variety of other interesting products available including motorized 3D creature puzzles and replica dinosaur fossils.

Max Traxxx Racers Remote Control Infinity Loop earned A Geek Daddy nod of approval because it has amazing special effects and provides quality family time where parents and kids can enjoying playing with it together. Plus my family was able to easily put everything together then safely play with it hassle and problem free.  Finally, my kids love it and have been playing with it over and over again which has to be one of the most important things to look for in a toy.

A Geek Daddy Toy Review: R.E.V. Robotic Enhanced Vehicles

 ** A Geek Daddy was provided the featured product for free to review **

Combining  remote control cars with augment reality technology provides for hours of fun with WowWee's new battle pack of gladiatorial robotic enhanced vehicles (R.E.V.). The premise of this toy is to battle sports cars decked out with advanced weaponry in a gladiator match versus a friend or A.I. (artificial intelligence) using augmented reality to incorporate the battle features and sensors within the R.E.V. to provide interaction between the vehicles.

We were provided a R.E.V. battle pack from WowWee to try out and my kids have been having a blast racing these cars around trying to knock each others vehicles out of action with an array of weapons ranging from laser cannons to rockets to land mines.  The battles can commence when you download an app for your smart phone which controls these high-tech battle mobiles that is available at no additional charge through your purchase of a R.E.V. battle pack at retailers such as Amazon, Best Buy, Target, Toys R Us and Walmart. There aren't actually any physical elements to the weapons that come into play with these toys but rather they are incorporated into the action through the augment reality app on your smart phone, the sound effects projected through speakers in the cars, and sensors in the vehicles that project and accept digital data to allow the battle aspects of the game to take place.  All these elements work seamlessly together to provide for a really challenging and entertaining play time experience.

It is nice that WowWee has bundled 2 cars together in their battle pack so right out of the box you can face off against an opponent either controlled by A.I. or another person using the control app downloaded onto a second smart phone. The A.I. on these toys is incredible!  The sensors in each R.E.V. complimented by A.I. features allow them to interact so that the A.I. drone can run away from the human controlled vehicle shooting at it and also race towards the other car to launch its own attack. Each vehicle is outfitted with Beacon Sense technology, a proprietary indoor GPS system that enables them to sense their surroundings and navigate accordingly.



There are 5 A.I. levels to choose from to play against ranging from very easy to moderately challenging to whoa! this is really hard.  The first two levels kept my kids amused for quite awhile but bored me pretty quickly.  The third and fourth levels to select from were a bit more challenging and I had a lot of fun playing around with while my kids preferred to stick with the easy ones.  The fifth level A.I. kicked my butt every time which isn't necessarily a bad thing because it shows playing against the computer isn't a pushover and really motivates me on improving my skills to take it on.  From reading this paragraph you can probably tell that I enjoyed playing with these toys just as much as my kids did.

In addition to the A.I. mode you can also challenge a friend to head-to-head combat.  We loaded the control app onto both my wife and I's iPhones and most of the time my kids spent playing versus one another rather than competing against the A.I. These cars really can pick up speed and whip around which was another impressive feature about them.  Also they worked equally as well when we played with them on the hardwood floor of our dining room and the carpet in our living room.

Each cars take 4 AA batteries to run or else you can purchase an optional rechargeable battery to insert within the cars so you just need to plug them into an outlet rather than purchase additional batteries.  We used the AA batteries in our R.E.V.  Another nice feature is whether you or using AA batteries or the optional plug in power unit, the control app has a gauge that shows you the energy level in each vehicle so you know when it is going low well before your car dies out on you.

Setting up and getting ready to play with these toys was really simple and we got them up and running without a hitch.  First you just download the app onto a smart phone or tablet.  Note you do need to have relatively newer mobile devices though as the app wouldn't work on our iPad 2s that my wife and I each have but worked great on the iPhone 5Ss we each own.  Make sure you check the tech requirements for the toy before purchasing it to make sure your smart phone or tablet is compatible because without the app you can't control the vehicles and play the games.  Game play options include the head-to-head competitions versus A.I. or a friend that I've already mentioned in what is called "Arena Mode" or you can engage in "Campaign Mode" which provides a variety of challenges and scenarios that highlight the A.I. capabilities of these robotic enhanced vehicles.  There is also an add on ramp you can purchase to engage in stunts with your vehicles and use in battle mode to provide an extra twist into the competitive combat play features of these toys.

Once you have the app downloaded on your smart phone and the batteries inserted within your battle mobile just flip the on switch located along the bottom of the vehicles to power them up.  Then just activate the app and swipe your mobile device over the R.E.V. to sync them together.  Pick the game mode you want to play and its battle time!  Note you can only control one R.E.V. at a time from any one mobile device so the other robotic enhanced vehicle must be controlled by the A.I. functions or by another player using another compatible smart phone or tablet. If you have enough cars and smart phones though up to 16 people can play at one time in Arena Mode.

These vehicles are very sharp looking with their sport car profiles and are also very durable so they can take a beating crashing into one another, walls or other obstacles that may get in their way.  Also they can really pick up speed and zoom around a room.  The technology in these vehicles is designed for indoor use so make sure you have adequate space inside your house for these toys to race around.

While the recommend age for these toys is 8+ my 6 year old twins had no problem controlling these vehicles and really had a great time playing with them.  Because of their durability, cool look, innovative use of technology, and the fun factor of playing with them, WowWee's R.E.V. battle pack gets A Geek Daddy nod of approval.

For more information, visit wowwee.com/rev/