by L. Wiles - 2008-12-30
We've been really wanting to carry a super cool marble run in the store but haven't yet found the perfect item. We've been eying Mega Brand Magnext iCoaster for a while but have been unable to get samples sent so I decided to try the iCoaster on for size by getting it for my nephew's Christmas gift.
Jesse, my 7 year old nephew, is a sharp kid and really has a mind for building things. He often comes up with his own creations that boggle my mind. When I tested the Uberstix with him it occupied him for hours. He got lost in figuring out how the pieces fit together and in building and creating from his own imagination. While I was busy reading the directions he already had it figured out and was building stuff. So naturally I thought the iCoaster would be perfect for him.
It is our family tradition to open gifts on Christmas Eve and while I'm not sure, I've always suspected it came about because my Mom could never get us to go to sleep the night before Christmas so she decided to give in rather than fight. So, embracing tradition, Jesse and I took the iCoaster out of the box Christmas Eve.
The set comes packaged quite nicely, all pieces fit into a compartmentalized Styrofoam box, which you could use to store your set if you were into fitting the pieces back into place. We opted for a cardboard box because, well, it was easier and the pieces seem sturdy enough to withstand some jumble without damage. Although, I was careful to set the sound box into the corner first. I was also careful with the two sensors, wrapping their cords around them and carefully laying them in the box last.
We had the iCoaster unpacked for only about a half an hour before it was time to pack up and move on to other things. In that few minutes I started looking through the instructions and trying to figure out how the pieces fit together while my nephew took a more hands on approach. Frankly, neither one of us made much progress in that short time. I don't know if that is a comment on the clarity of the iCoaster instruction or on the level of distractions and our tiredness on Christmas Eve. Both are certainly possible.
The next day, Christmas Day, well rested we took another go at it. Jesse just wanted to fit some pieces together and roll the metal ball. I, on the other hand, wanted to try some of the examples that are included in the set. It took me a while to figure out their coding and that each piece is labeled with a symbol. Even armed with that knowledge there were some unclear sections on some of the configurations.
However, once I got the hang of it and understood their system and logic, it actually became pretty simple to put together, and rearrange. Although, Jesse never really did take much of an interest in building from the examples. I'd build a configuration, he and his sister 'raced' the metal balls through the configuration, they'd get bored and have me build a new configuration and on and on it went.
I didn't mind. I actually found the construction aspect of the iCoaster pretty cool. There are lots of ways to create new runs, they give you ten examples to get you started, although some of them didn't work like I thought they should, with a little simple adjusting we got them to work great and of course you can create your own runs easily.
It did sort of surprise me that Jesse didn't get more into the building aspect because this is usually right up his alley. Of course, I was kind of hogging it in an attempt to figure it out and he had other Christmas toys to hold his interest so it's probably not an accurate test. I'll have to get some feedback over time to get a true picture of his interest of the iCoaster.
Once we got a configuration built, the little metal balls would usually run through nicely. With only a few exceptions the balls took the turns and made the jumps as expected, although not as fast as I would have liked. Once a ball completed the circuit it was magnetically carried up to the top of the tower and then down through the circuit again. This is a pretty cool feature creating a continuous cycling of balls running through the configuration. Jesse seemed to really get a kick out of being able to stop and start the marbles at the tower by a push of a button. I guess it gave him some control and a sense of interaction.
And that's where it fizzles for me. The balls rolling through the run was a little boring. It reminded me of a slow train ride at the kiddie park. I wanted excitement and speed. I wanted to see marbles flying around corners with the occasional derailment because they were just going too fast to take the turn. I wanted the centrifugal force from the marbles zooming through a loop-the-loop to shake the whole configuration. But I got a slow train ride around the kiddie park. Not once did I say 'WOW!'.
At one point, I decided to try my own configuration to see if I could get some high velocity action going. My first thought was to go simple, to start high and just go straight down with the marble flying off the end into a target. It didn't work. There just are not enough pieces in one set to get the momentum going and the height of the tallest brace just isn't enough. I suppose with multiple sets and adding some height with books or blocks or something it might be possible to get the velocity and marble flying excited I was craving. I tried a few other configurations but eventually gave up feeling somewhat defeated.
Another disappointing feature was the sound box. While it was very cool in theory, the idea of marbles zoom around the run to your favorite music, lights flashing and buzzing sounds every time a marble passes by one of the sensors, it just didn't quite live up to my expectations. The sound box has it's own music with a decent volume, but it seemed to just be a short loop that played over and over. We hooked up an MP3 player as directed but we just couldn't get the volume high enough nor the sound quality good enough to really be any fun. I thought it might be an issue with the specific MP3 player so we also tried a little CD player and had a similar issue. I will say, however, the sensors worked well. The balls did set off the lights and noise as they past by the sensors without fail. Although more lights would have been more impressive.
Over all I think the iCoaster is constructed well, has some nice features and is a fun building toy. If you don't expect too much from the sound box and think of the marbles running through your configurations as a fun way to test and validate your engineering skills then its probably a good value. But, if like me, you want to see flying marbles, and frame rattling loop-the-loops you will probably be a little disappointed.