When it comes to R/C vehicles, Nikko’s been in the game for a long time… since 1958, landing on kids’ wish lists (including my own) for decades. One of their newest offerings to come since becoming a unit of Toy State is the “Elite Trucks”line, and with their all-new Ford F-150 SVT Raptor hitting the streets for the holidays, we were excited to receive one for review here in the Toy Testing Facility at Rock Father HQ.
Straight-away, this ride looks a lot different than many of the off-the-shelf RC vehicles we run across, boasting a body style and suspension akin to the “hobby grade” (expensive rides for advanced users) RC that you’d have to visit a specialty retailer to purchase. This Ford F-150 is ready-to-run right from the box, just plug-in the quick-charge 9.6V battery (only 1 hour to charge) and pop the included AAA’s into the controller and you’re ready to roll.
At a glance the body appears to be flimsy, but this is by design – allowing the truck to be both light-weight and durable, something that comes in handy given its speed, which tops off at 12.8mph! The 2.4ghz frequency also allows for up to 40 users to play at once (something not possible with low-end RC), with a range of 330 feet. And one of the coolest features is the proportional sound effects which provide this ride with realistic engine noises that react to speed and position.
Here at HQ, the weather has already turned cold, wet and gloomy (snow is coming), so we took advantage of a late Fall warm-up day to get some video of this in-action (actually shot by my 4-year-old with me at the RC controls). Since it is blazingly-fast, it’s not recommended for indoor use, unless you have somewhere like a gym or barn with wide-open space to let this really fly.
I haven’t had this much fun with an RC vehicle in a long time. 100% Rock Father Approved!
Available now at Amazon.
