wired
MICHAEL MCCOLE
November 21, 2016
Foto: Hasbro
WHAT’S THE BEST way to elevate a family holiday gathering? Tactical warfare!
Nerf’s latest rolling drone should win a few battles. The Nerf N-Strike Elite Terrascout Remote Control Drone Blaster is basically a little remote-controlled tank. The non-flying “drone” cruises across rough terrain and shoots Nerf darts. The drone itself comes in two parts that need to be snapped together. The bottom part is the vehicle, which runs on two tank-like tracks and contains the battery pack. The top part is the blaster, which is a typical Nerf gun without the stock or trigger. A clip holding 18 Nerf darts snaps into the blaster, and enough darts to fill it come in the box.
The feature that sets the Terrascout apart, however, is the little camera that’s built into the blaster’s barrel. This enables the Terrascout to show you where the blaster is aimed on the screen on the included hand-held remote. You can drive the Terrascout around a corner, for example, and see everything it sees, capturing video as you go.
The tank costs $200 and is a Toys-R-Us exclusive for the time being.
WIRED
The controller is sensitive, and the drone moves quickly when engaged. I was expecting it to crawl slowly across the yard, and was happily surprised when it started zipping around. It’s fast enough that you can successfully chase a three-year-old with it, but not so fast that it actually scares him. My boys and I tried to flip the Terrascout a few times, spinning it in tight circles or quickly jamming it from forward to backward, but we couldn’t get it to roll. The all-terrain tracks conquered all our terrains.
The blaster itself is powerful. As with handheld Nerf blasters, the darts shoot faster than you’d expect, although they don’t hurt when you’re hit. You can peel off the whole clip of 18 darts in a matter of seconds, although there’s a slight delay on the first dart. If you get the drone moving at full speed and angle the barrel to its highest degree, you can get some darts travelling nearly fifty feet.
The screen adds to the fun, although there’s something disconcerting about seeing your kid’s smiling face in a set of crosshairs. And by inserting a (not included) SD card, you can record video of everything the blaster sees, including the reaction of any animals or people you’re targeting. The videos capture audio, too. We spent our time chasing each other around the park and blasting Nerf darts into a small street hockey goal, and have some funny videos to prove it. Nobody got hurt, and the kids had a blast.
The controller is sensitive, and the drone moves quickly when engaged. I was expecting it to crawl slowly across the yard, and was happily surprised when it started zipping around. It’s fast enough that you can successfully chase a three-year-old with it, but not so fast that it actually scares him. My boys and I tried to flip the Terrascout a few times, spinning it in tight circles or quickly jamming it from forward to backward, but we couldn’t get it to roll. The all-terrain tracks conquered all our terrains.
The blaster itself is powerful. As with handheld Nerf blasters, the darts shoot faster than you’d expect, although they don’t hurt when you’re hit. You can peel off the whole clip of 18 darts in a matter of seconds, although there’s a slight delay on the first dart. If you get the drone moving at full speed and angle the barrel to its highest degree, you can get some darts travelling nearly fifty feet.
Foto: Hasbro
The screen adds to the fun, although there’s something disconcerting about seeing your kid’s smiling face in a set of crosshairs. And by inserting a (not included) SD card, you can record video of everything the blaster sees, including the reaction of any animals or people you’re targeting. The videos capture audio, too. We spent our time chasing each other around the park and blasting Nerf darts into a small street hockey goal, and have some funny videos to prove it. Nobody got hurt, and the kids had a blast.
TIRED
The controller is maybe too sensitive. While the drone moves quickly without effort, I had a hard time moving it slowly or turning it gradually. Navigating it inside my house was particularly tricky—this is definitely an outdoor toy. My kids’ small fingers were better able to regulate the drone’s speed than mine, however, and that’s what matters most.
The dart clip didn’t always snap correctly into place. When this happened it would eventually wiggle out of place, making the darts jam or just not fire at all. A couple times, the clip literally fell out of the blaster en route.
While the video on the controller’s screen is sharp, there was a delay between what the blaster was pointing at and what you saw on the screen.
Finally, the included battery pack did not come charged, and AA batteries to power the controller were not included. So if you’re considering the Terrascout as a gift, don’t forget to grab those AAs yourself, and you might want to consider pre-charging the pack so you can start blasting right away.
The controller is maybe too sensitive. While the drone moves quickly without effort, I had a hard time moving it slowly or turning it gradually. Navigating it inside my house was particularly tricky—this is definitely an outdoor toy. My kids’ small fingers were better able to regulate the drone’s speed than mine, however, and that’s what matters most.
The dart clip didn’t always snap correctly into place. When this happened it would eventually wiggle out of place, making the darts jam or just not fire at all. A couple times, the clip literally fell out of the blaster en route.
While the video on the controller’s screen is sharp, there was a delay between what the blaster was pointing at and what you saw on the screen.
Finally, the included battery pack did not come charged, and AA batteries to power the controller were not included. So if you’re considering the Terrascout as a gift, don’t forget to grab those AAs yourself, and you might want to consider pre-charging the pack so you can start blasting right away.
RATING
7/10 – Very good, but not quite great.
7/10 – Very good, but not quite great.
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