The one problem I encountered was radio range. The instructions say a charge is supposed to last about 4 minutes, but I repeatedly got more than 10 minutes of play time by doing the "bounce" and not running the motors full-time. Once you get used to the timing, you can actually keep the sub underwater until the internal batteries start to run out of charge, at which point the controls stop working and it just floats up to the surface for retrieval. If you push the buttons for short bursts and then let them rest briefly, you can get the sub to sort of "bounce" between diving and self-surfacing, which lets you maintain a certain depth under water for a long time. If you do nothing at all, the sub floats gently to the surface on its own! Whew! Can't go wrong!Īfter awhile, I found that for the best underwater piloting experience, it's best to not hold the controls down for too long. It feels pretty intuitive and the good thing is, you never have to worry about sinking. To go straight and down, you push forward on both buttons of the controller. Because the motors are angled up, any forward motion also makes the sub go down into the water. The exPloreR sub floats perfectly in fresh water, well-balanced with the propellers just barely below the water line. There are no trims to fiddle with on the controller or the sub itself, so once it's on, the headlights shine and you're ready to go. It covers the charging connection neatly and looks like a natural part of the sub. Instead, there's a part the manual calls a faux "periscope tower," that installs right where the charge jack was. What's really interesting here is that there is no traditional on/off switch on the sub itself. It takes about 15 minutes for a charge, after which a lone LED light on the dock turns off to let you know you're ready to go. Charging is simple, involving just plugging it in and flipping a switch. The charging dock takes 4 AA batteries and connects to the top of the sub via an included adapter cable. The package includes a small basic controller, a charging dock, and an unexpected treat in the form of a pair of spare propellers to replace broken ones. It's truly palm-sized at under 4" long and has a fun, semi-realistic appearance with two fully enclosed motors on the sides with streamlined propellers. I've actually seen micro submarines exactly like the exPloreR at several online stores, but I picked this particular one up from Budget Gadgets.
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