Archive for May, 2010

Dave’s Cool Toys website upgrade

Dave’s Cool Toys will be upgrading our online shopping cart system in the coming weeks.

During this time, there may be some website downtime when the entire site, or parts of it, are not available. At other times, the site may run more slowly than usual or some features may not be available while we get things back up to speed.

Once this is done, some links and bookmarks to our site may change. Unfortunately, this is outside of our control and necessary with the upgrade. The links to our main site will remain the same and you can always find the toy you are looking for by going through www.davescooltoys.com.

We apologize for any trouble this may cause our customers and visitors. We assure you that this is only temporary while we update our shopping cart. This will allow us to add new features and make your shopping experience better at Dave’s Cool Toys.

Cool Toy of the Day: Crazy Chase Dive Ball

Crazy Chase Dive Ball
Let the Crazy Chase begin

Today’s Cool Toy is the Crazy Chase Dive Ball.

Since it’s coming into pool season (although it’s way too cold here in the Northeast right now) we are featuring yet another pool diving toy on Dave’s Cool Toys Blog. There are lots of diving toys available, including just using pennies that cost, well, pennies. So to be featured here a diving toy must be unique and innovative.

Crazy Chase Dive Ball has a great twist on the simple diving toy. It moves!

Drop the ball into the water and let it fall to the bottom of the pool. Then dive in (if there’s enough diving depth) and retrieve it. But wait! It’s not there anymore.

Crazy Chase rolls along the bottom of the pool in an unpredictable "crazy" pattern, making it more difficult to retrieve. It might roll away just as you’re about to grab it.

I think this is a great idea for a diving toy that makes this game far more fun than just diving and retrieving

Crazy Chase Dive Ball requires 2 AA batteries, not included and is for ages 6 and up. Price range $9.95-$12.50

An Amazing Mini Cannon


We love cannons. Which is why we sell the entire line of Big Bang Cannons (shameless plug). But this little cannon is a power-packed little weapon. It shoots holes in soda cans, breaks glass, pops a balloon from across the room. It’s quite amazing. Although this guy wasn’t too smart to shoot a lightbulb right by his keyboard. Video below.

Now that I watch this again, I hope I wasn’t taken in by a YouTube hoax.

Cool Toy of the Day: Bumper Balls

Caption

As you can imagine, I get a lot of emails from manufacturers that want us to sell their product. Most of them are items manufactured in China that are blow our standards. But every so often one catches my attention.

That was the case with Bumper Balls. They look very cool. They are large, inflatable balls that you crawl into. Your legs are left free to "run" around. Once you are set, you can roll around and crash into each other. Just like bumper cars, only with balls.

At first glance, it seems a bit dangerous to be encased in what is essentially a large, inflated, plastic bag. But it’s open at the top and there seems to be some sort of slots in the center to allow air circulation. I’d have to be concerned if one pops, though.

Obviously, they are best for large, open areas, and more of a party situation. They are also a bit costly. I found them on one site for $300.00 (plus $150.00 shipping from Hong Kong). I can’t quite figure out if this is for a set or just one.

Parental warning: Don’t search for "Bumper Balls" on Amazon when there are children around. Trust me.

In any case, they are very cool.

I had a bit of trouble linking to their video since the page is all in Chinese, but I eventually figured it out below. I’ve also included a video from YouTube in case the first one stops working. You can see the original page here.

Cool Toy of the Day: Sonic Search

Sonic Search
Sonic Search Package

Our Cool Toy today is another pool toy, the Sonic Search Game. This is another twist on the diving toy. But this time it’s sonic! Turn on the cool plastic device, toss or hide it in the pool, and it starts to emit a sonar-like beep that you can hear underwater. Use the sound to try to locate it and disarm it before 60 seconds are up. After 60 seconds, the alarm sounds. Once you have found and stopped Sonic Search, it will tell you the time, so you can try to best it or keep score (no more timing the kid’s dives). Once the alarm sounds, it will no longer give a time.

I would expect that because Sonic Search is clear, it might be hard to see in the pool, making the beeps more useful. But it does seem like you could just look for it. It also hadn’t occurred to me that you could tell the direction of the beeps underwater, but it seems you can!

Ages 5 and up. Suggested retail $11.99

Can Lego solve a Rubik’s Cube? You bet!

Lego Rubic's Cube Robot
The Lego Rubic’s Cube robot

How fast can you solve a Rubik’s Cube
? My answer? "Not very".

This robot can solve it in under 25 seconds.

The robot is made from Lego Mindstorm, Lego Technic pieces, and a Droid cell phone running a custom-made application. The cell phone takes pictures of each side of the Rubik’s Cube from above, the uses solves the puzzle and sends instructions to the Mindstorm robot with Bluetooth.

The robot was built by ARM to show off their processor in the Droid phone (which explains the skateboarding Droid robot in the upper right corner). Even though it’s a promotional video, it’s still one of the coolest uses of Lego I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen some cool ones.

(via Gizmodo)

Cool Toy of the Day: Submergibles

submergibles
What a cutie!

Today’s cool toy is the the Submergibles diving pool toy from Swimway. There are tons of inexpensive diving toys for the pool. Lots are available at the dollar store. But this one has a very cool feature. You can adjust them to either float, sink to the bottom, or suspend in between. What a great twist on diving games! They also look like little mines and the knobs make them easy for little hands to grip. They come with two bright colors in each set (green/blue & yellow/red). Ages 5 and up.

A quick plug for our e-newsletter. This month’s newsletter includes helpful pool safety tips for the home pool.

Flash Mob at Ohio State Union

I love Flash Mobs (a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place and perform a brief act, then disperse). You’ll find several videos on Dave’s Cool Toys Blog of great public performances. This one is of Ohio State students and staff breaking into dance in the great hall of the new Ohio Union on Monday, May 3, 2010 at 12:35 p.m. There’s also an appearance by Brutus Buckeye and Ohio State U. President E. Gordon Gee. For an added bonus, I believe they used music from Glee. Crank the volume, watch in HD if you’re system can handle it, and enjoy.

Original Star Wars Trilogy with Lego.

I missed Star Wars Day, which was yesterday ("May the force" be with you). But I’m making it up with this little movie. It’s the original Star Wars Trilogy told in 2 minutes with animated Lego and narrated by a child. What could be better? The little nuggests of humor go by very fast, so watch it twice (or 3 times). My favorite… "What up, son". I wish I knew who made this, but I haven’t been able to locate that info. Enjoy!

Dave’s Cool Toys Blog
We post news about new toys on our site, new toys in the market, general toy information, or stuff we just thought was cool (usually toys).

We welcome your feedback and comments.

Be sure to check out our toys at Dave's Cool Toys. We work hard to find toys you won't find at the big box stores. Now go out and play!

Dave Ference

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A few things we thought you should know:

Some of the links on our weblog will not take you to Dave's Cool Toys, but to other sites. If you purchase an item from that site we may, or may not, receive a commission on that purchase.

All toy reviews are honest and will give you the good, the bad, and the ugly, even if it's a toy we sell. We receive no compensation for any toy reviews.

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