Toys that turned out to be more fun than you imagined.

FONSguy

Super Member
So a while back my house flooded when a cold water hose to my washing machine broke. My best buddy invited me to stay in one of his guest bedrooms, and since he was between jobs I asked him to manage the flip and restore. Being a hobby geek, a few weeks later I bought a Blade Msr indoor 4 channel helicopter. It was very small, I could fly it around his front yard and parts were cheap. It could fall 20 feet onto the street without damage. Within a few weeks I was getting good with it. I decided to get a better transmitter and that made it even easier to fly. I'd say it was the best toy I've bought in 20 years. I bought the bigger brother, a Blade SR 120. Also I put some aftermarket swashplates in both. The SR 120 would fly very fast, and I flew it up and down the street, about 20 feet in the air. I even got it to do a sloppy loop! Even though I flew RC planes for almost 10 years, this was more fun.
 
Legos. Started years ago with me sons with those big bricks. Now I'm entranced with the sets that are robots. Aren't cheap but fun to build with my cousin's sons
 
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The $30 quadcopter I bought a while back for sure.

On the "more useful than expected" rather than straight fun side of things, an odd one as an audio geek, the jbl Bluetooth speaker I bought a few years back to use up some Target gift cards. Not awesome sound quality, but worlds better than phone speakers. I found myself using it a ton to listen to books and podcasts while I worked on things in the garage etc. I bought it on a whim but it quickly became one of my most used gadgets.
 
So a while back my house flooded when a cold water hose to my washing machine broke. My best buddy invited me to stay in one of his guest bedrooms, and since he was between jobs I asked him to manage the flip and restore. Being a hobby geek, a few weeks later I bought a Blade Msr indoor 4 channel helicopter. It was very small, I could fly it around his front yard and parts were cheap. It could fall 20 feet onto the street without damage. Within a few weeks I was getting good with it. I decided to get a better transmitter and that made it even easier to fly. I'd say it was the best toy I've bought in 20 years. I bought the bigger brother, a Blade SR 120. Also I put some aftermarket swashplates in both. The SR 120 would fly very fast, and I flew it up and down the street, about 20 feet in the air. I even got it to do a sloppy loop! Even though I flew RC planes for almost 10 years, this was more fun.

That's why all of us need a flood stop detecting auto shut off to our washing machine

https://www.amazon.com/Floodstop-Washing-Machines-FS-4-H90/dp/B00PM9A3TC

Or
https://www.amazon.com/Automatic-Detector-Shut-Off-Stopping-Detection/dp/B0742N3KHF
 
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Duncan Yo-Yo's and string Top's. Got into yo-yo's when I saw The Yo Man perform for the 1st time, Tommy Smothers. When I go to yard sales, garage sales, estate sales, etc. and there are yo-yo;s or string tops. You can bet they will be coming home with me. They are my Precious.
 
Here in Germany, there is a mechanical alternative that is MUCH cheaper.
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B001J4XQHA...=9068447&hvtargid=pla-421202852059&th=1&psc=1
It´s a flow control valve. If the hose ruptures the flow rate is high enough to cause the valve to shut.
Simple and effective.
 
Some of the newer science desk toys are such. Sunnytech has some interesting stuff, I like their coffee cup Sterling engine.
 
I once bought a sand rail that was a mutt: Chenoweth (VW) Chassis, Mazda Rx-7 turbo engine, VW bus tranny, Porche rear end. I had no idea how fast and how much fun that thing would be!!! It spooled up so fast that you almost couldn't shift fast enough to keep up with it :thumbsup: We had a lot of fun out in the high desert and my boys learned to drive a stick - although it had a racing clutch that was pretty easy to operate. Ultimately I sold it to a young guy who "wanted to go fast" :idea:
 
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