Kids Toys Shop

I first bought a generic slot car set for C$50. It was so useless I threw it away after a few hours. Then I got this for C$100 and it is absolutely fantastic! It is beyond worth the money. It is a quality product and fantastic fun. Any reviews that are not glowing are missing a few key points:

1) It is easy to assemble but you do need to be careful. Lay out all the parts in orderly piles first! This will save loads of time and make it easier to figure out. Do not force the tracks when assembling. Doing so will cause breaks or bad fits. This does take some finesse.

2) Racing the cars actually takes finesse. This means practice. That is a sign of a *good* toy. Not some disposable mindless junk that most toys are. This is old school quality. And persistance pays off. The cars fly off the track and you will get bored - unless you actually try. After 1 - 3 days of practice (depending on age) you get good. There is a turbo button which we all thought was useless. And then we figured it out after a day.

3) Keep care of the electrical brushings on the car. Just brush them with your fingertips or a pliers as needed.

With the above notes, this is actually *better* than the slot cars I had as a kid circa 1980. Usually people bemoan how things get worse. In this case, the reverse is true! I am currently using it with family in town: boys age 3, 4, 5, 7 - plus two dads. We all fight to race it. And my 3.5 year old often does win.

I was very reluctant to get this for my 4 1/2 yr old for Christmas, but did and am very glad I decided to. It has held up well, and have only had a few broken clips that hold the track pieces together (extras come with the set). My wife replaced the brush on mcqueen with no problems. The cars routinely launch off the track when my kids overuse the turbo button, but the cars are no worse for wear. Some of the decorations are hard to install, but they can be left off or just displayed elsewhere. At first I thought the cars would be flying off the track when at full speed (not turbo), but they rarely do. Dads and not kids have to set this up. Ours lives under the bed in 4 large pieces, and can be put back together in a matter of minutes. 1st set up did take nearly an hour to figure it all out, add stickers, etc. For the next birthday, we are getting the king and some extra track pieces. Happy racing!

Great concept but track as shown is almost impossible to keep cars on track. I built an oval track and my son and I have a great time racing around it. The turbo button is super fast you will need a long long straight track to enjoy that button. Overall good for a kid. I purchased this in march 2010.

Bought this for my three year old sons birth day, well, and probly more for myself. It arrived with the shipping box pretty banged up, but the seller shiped well enough to prevent any damage to the product. It took about an hour to get race ready, and boy are thies cars fast. Its imposible to go full speed aroud the track, but you dont have too! My three year old son had the hang of the controls in about an half hour. The cars do come off the tracks, you do crash into eachother, but thats what slot car raceing is about. I would not however recomend this for use for any one under six or seven without adult suppervision. Over all a great set for a great price. found at [...] for forty $$$ more.

I read all the reviews before deciding to purchase this set from Amazon.com. Reviews were correct in that it does take a few minutes to look things over and identify all the parts. Assembly takes a bit of patience to understand the unwritten assembly instructions using schematics and pictures, but once you identify the track sections, connectores etc, it moves along pretty good. Took me about an hour to be up and running before my grandson came over for his b'day. (And I'm handicapped because of my hands). Runs great. Faster than I imagined. The cars have a dual brush(2 each side) setup and as long as they're not bent out of position, the cars really hold the track. What a difference from the slot car set I had 40 yrs ago. If you try to lift the cars while plugged in, you can feel a magnettic pull holding them down. My 5 yr old grandson brought this to my attention. After playing with it for awhile, he already had figured out how to re-allign the car's brushes to better hold the track. His 1-1/2 yr old sister has walked on the track frequently and keeps trying to make matchbox cars work, to no avail. Seems durable and stays together so far. Yes, you have to sometimes re-allign the pickup brushes on the cars to work properly after they've left the track. Yes, you have to slow down a bit at the 360* turn. Welcome to slot car racing! My grandson found out more cars are available on line and is already asking me which ones we'll get next. I would recommend this toy to anyone with a minimal amount of common sense and ability, for their kids or grandkids.