Magnetix I-Coaster
 | Average Customer Rating: Recommend Build your own thrill-filled coaster. Watch the 10MM spheres go through cool loops and pass by the magic Magnetix bridge. Use the iMixer to create your own background music. Choose from 10 different beats and over 20 sample tracks. Requires 4 "C" batteries, not included. Product details and pricing info |
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61 Customer Reviews Posted
- I-Coaster
- Grandkids thought it was a neat toy and they all enjoyed playing with it. The parts do tend to come apart and the unit works best on a hard surface.
- 2008-01-13, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Loads of fun for all
- this toy was a christmas present for my 7 yr old twin boys. We all enjoy putting the coaster together in diffrent ways and then watching the balls as they ride our creation. It was a good oppourinty to spend quality time together. Putting the coaster together is a breeze.
- 2008-01-12, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- It Is An Interesting Twist On A Marble Drop
- My son received a very nice Quercetti (plastic) marble drop for Christmas '06. He then received an iCoaster for Christmas '07. I consider the iCoaster an interesting twist on a marble drop and will review it as such. This leads me to a little perspective regarding all the complaints in prior reviews about the difficulty of assembling and then the fragility of the thing if you bump it.
In comparing the two types of marble drops, I found it much easier to build an iCoaster run than a traditional marble drop. Once built, both are equally vulnerable to damage when bumped. With the iCoaster, the couple of times we bumped the track, a piece or two fell and it was a simple repair. With the traditional marble drop, while the track typically stayed together, rebalancing it and resetting any supports that may have popped off was typically more difficult. Once assembled, the Quercetti does have more longterm durability (e.g., if you want to keep it up for days at a time). This is because the iCoaster support bases are hard plastic with no anti-slip. The longer the iCoaster runs, the more the heavy marbles hit the track, the more the supports shimmy out of position. If they shimmy too far, track pieces are susceptible to falling. So you need to pay regular attention to the joints to see when/if any supports have shimmied too far. I will probably modify the bases with non-slip feet someday.
Assembly of both types of marble drops requires strict attention to which level you place the supports. The iCoaster magnetic segments adhere well if you fasten/couple them properly (e.g., a two notch drop from beginning to end versus attempting a three notch drop). If they are at any type of non-optimal angle (left, right, or too steep of a decline), the magnetic attraction quickly reduces and it may fall when bearing the weight of a marble. With the Quercetti, the nature of it's design does not allow for making the wrong setting on supports. This makes free-lancing with the iCoaster more trial and error, but that is also part of the education process with this type of toy.
Miscellaneous thoughts: the iCoaster came with more sample runs pictured in the owners manual, there are four inputs for presence detectors but only two detectors provided -- does this mean there is a possiblity of an expansion pack, the small piece that causes the marbles to do a vertical 180 needs to be set the right way or else the marbles will drop off too much, the elevator is not really as cool as it looks -- inside the housing it's just a normal marble elevator with magnets spaced every 7"-8".
Comparing the iCoaster to other marble drops I've seen, I find it to be more accessible and user-friendly. It's not the perfect toy ... marble drops in general tend to be a bit boring once you set them up. But the iCoaster is getting more play than the Quercetti did because runs are easier to set up and tweak. - 2008-01-09, 1 of 1 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Not bad in the end
- This was my son's most anticipated gift, and overall we are happy with it. It was a challenge to put together the first time, but once you get used to the directions and know that the pieces have to be lined up perfectly, it's really not hard to put together. The first time we turned it on the pieces were not all magnetized and the balls fell off a lot, but again, after playing around with it some we were able to get it to work properly.
- 2008-01-08, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Not happy with this toy
- My son is 6 Years old and normally able to figure out toys for 6 years and above as this toy is rated, however this toy is way too complicated for a 6 year old to put together. I even had a difficult time figuring out how to construct the tracks as the instructions are very challenging and not very descriptive. Also after about 1 day the motor gave out on the ball moving mechanism rendering the toy worthless. It was alot of money for a toy that does not even work.
- 2008-01-07, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
