James Spence

The Vectron Wave from Air Hogs is, in my opinion, an amazing toy and I was delighted to find it in my latest box of toys from Toys R Us.

It could best be described as a miniature flying saucer.  When charged, it starts to spin rapidly thanks to a propeller under the body of the toy.  This spinning motion lifts the unit off the ground, at which point the technology built into it takes over.  It has altitude sensors which allow it to figure out the height it should fly at.

As soon as it takes off it looks really impressive.  A red LED light on the side puts out an intense red line of light around the skirt.  When flown in a dark room it looks brilliant.

I took the toy around to my parents and played with it with my Dad and niece Charlotte.  I told Charlotte to switch it on and then step away from it really quickly.  She switched it on and, frankly, legged it!  When the Vectron Wave took off she squealed with delight although whenever it came close to her she laughed with nervous energy, as if being chased by a fun wasp!

Tiffany, on the other hand was less than impressed.  The toy takes a bit of getting used to, and she felt it was somewhat uncontrollable.  In many ways she’s right.  There’s no controls other than your hands and the air currents in the room.  The toy takes around half an hour to fully charge and then provides around three minutes of play time, so you would need other things to do to pad out the time.

If you do buy one, don’t give up on it too quickly.  It took me a while to get used to it.  It is quite addictive once yo start playing with it.

Whether you like it or not, it is a very memorable and dramatic toy.  I’ve never seen anything like it and I know when Elwood is a little older he’ll have a lot of fun with it.

Air Hogs Vectron Wave is available at Toys R Us.  Age: 8 to 10 years