They seek him here...
Obviously you've all
heard of Quidditch, the wizarding world equivalent of football, made
famous by the Harry Potter franchise. If you've ever fancied playing
the game, but were left disappointed by the fact that brooms can't
fly and magic isn't real (yet), you might be interested in this new
toy. Combining two things we love: flying gadgets and daft living
room-based fun, we check out the Wow! Stuff Golden Snitch Heliball.
Yes, this is a flying
snitch, complete with flickering wings. Instead of using a magical
charm to stay aloft and avoid capture, this Snitch uses two spinning
pairs of propellers and a rechargeable battery. Juiced it up via the
included USB cable, tap the single button on the remote control and
the Snitch will take off and fly for a good five minutes or so.
You can't control the
snitch, other than switching it on and off, and instead the heliball
will fly itself... kinda. It uses a visual sensor to keep itself
about four or five feet from the ground, and will wander around in
the air, never getting too high (like hitting the ceiling) or too low
(bashing into the sleeping cat). For the most part it will cruise
around in a leisurely circle, making it a perfect indoor toy.
To be honest, there is
a touch of magic to the snitch, in that when you reach out your hand
to try and catch it from the underside, it will automatically
increase altitude, moving up and away from you. Although an attempt
to replicate the evasion that 'real' snitches are famous for, this is
actually just a fun way to keep the snitch in the air and force it to
go higher. Still, bloody good fun.
We found that the
propellers were rigid enough to survive a crash landing (which will
occasionally happen when it drifts into a wall), yet soft enough not
to sting too badly if they hit flesh. In fact, an adult can
confidently grab the snitch by the props and not feel any real pain,
but kids should be careful. However, considering RC toys like this
usually need prop guards to protect delicate fingers, this is good
design work from Wow! Stuff.
Included in the box
along with the Heliball, remote, and charging cable, is a little
plastic display stand to show off the Snitch in all it's detailed
glory, and also a very nice scroll. The scroll is actually wall-mount
worthy, as it details the rules and history of the game of Quidditch;
all rendered in Hogworts-like font. Nice work, and a great little
extra.
Playing with the Snitch
is great fun, and our younger testers delighted in it no end... until
the battery ran out. Like most smaller RC toys of this price, the
five minute battery life will appear to go very quickly, but at least
a charge of about 30 minutes will bring it back for more fun. So,
this is a fun thing, both for kids who love flying gadgets, and for
those who relish anything to do with Harry Potter. Check it out.
£29.99
Available from
www.amazon.co.uk