I love toys, I’m just a kid at heart. I love gadgets so when you combine gadgets and toys together I really love them and that’s what I have for review today. Our friend at Mobile Fun have sent me over a Bugatti Veyron for review, well a very small Bugatti anyway as it’s a mini remote control car that you control with virtually any iDevice. The car uses actual RF or radio frequency and not infrared or Bluetooth like you’ll find on most all other R/C type gadgets. Using RF provides real 1:1 control with no lag, this is of course much more preferable than the lag of infrared controls. The car is tiny, smaller than my iPod Touch but it’s extremely well detailed and overall it’s a very high quality product I think. Anyway, read on to learn more…

Info:

Product Name: Dexim AppSpeed RF Race Car – Bugatti Veyron

Author: Kristofer Brozio

Provider:  Mobile Fun

Price: £39.95 / $62.66

Turn your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad into a remote control for a mini Bugatti Veyron with the Dexim AppSpeed RC Race Car.

Choose between touch-screen or motion controls for customizable racing experience
The Dexim AppSpeed RF Race Car is the ultimate in iPhone racing. With the ability to switch between touch-screen controls for improved accuracy and motion controls for a more realistic experience, the Dexim AppSpeed lets you drive the way you want to. Even the speed is adjustable, so if you need to slow down for a tricky hairpin bend then speed up for a long straight, you can at the touch of a button.

Realistic design with working lights looks good
Designed to look just like a Bugatti Veyron, the Dexim AppSpeed has all the details down. The car even has working headlights and reversing lights, giving a truly immersive driving experience – only in miniature!

Preset commands show off the car’s capabilities with ease
As well as the two driving modes, the App allows you to activate one of three different driving modes quickly and easily. ZigZag makes the car weave from side to side, while Spin shows off the tight turning circle. The best mode is Dance, which causes the car to dance to music, creating a different effect every time.

Includes portable quick battery charger to boost your driving time
While the car can be charged via the included USB cable, it also comes with a portable quick battery charger that allows you to top it up on the go. Powered by four AAA batteries, the quick battery charger has a standard USB socket so you can even use it to recharge your phone in a pinch.

Dock connector dongle provides greater range and reliability
While alternative phone-controlled RC cars use a Bluetooth connection, this can be unreliable and suffers from a very short range. Dexim have instead opted for a 433.92MHz wireless frequency with the included dock connector dongle. This provides much greater range and allows for more accurate control.

Free App available for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad
The Dexim AppSpeed RC Race Car is designed to be used with the iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. The dongle requires the use of a dock connector, and the App is only available on the iTunes App Store for free.

Specifications:
Compatilbility: Requires iOS 4.0 or later
Frequency: 433.92MHz
Effective range: 12-15m
Car charging time: 10-15 mins

The Review::

As usual the first thing to look at is the box, and this one is like all the others with pictures and info on it.

Inside you’ll find a plastic tray with the R/C car, transmitter and battery pack in it. On the side you’ll find a sticker, user manual and a USB cable to charge the car.

Here’s the three things unpacked:

The USB cable has a rather large part on it which I’m guessing is some sort of transformer and it does have an LED in it to indicate charging.

The transmitter is small and attached to your iDevice easily, just plug it in.

Here it is on my iPod Touch 4th Gen. It does fit with the case on but not quite, it’s loose and can fall off easily.

The battery pack uses four AA batteries and it can be used instead of plugging the car into your computer to charge it.  The idea is so you can charge the car while on the go. There’s a USB port on the end and the batteries go in the compartment.

The R/C car is the Bugatti Veyron and it looks sweet. The attention to detail is very good and the build quality seems very good. It’s an RF car so there’s an antenna sticking out of the back of it.

On the bottom of the car you’ll find the power switch and there’s a trim slider switch for steering.

As I showed you I’m using this with my iPod Touch and here’s the car on it to show you how small the car is.

Charge time takes about 10-15 minutes and you get about that in actual run time. That time is to be expected for a car of this size though.

The car has both front and rear tail lights. When you drive forward the headlights come on and when you drive backwards the taillights come on.

Once the car is charged you can turn on your iDevice and head on over to the appstore and download the official Dexim app to control the car.

When you first run the app you can choose between touch or motion controls.

Motion controls are just that, tilt the device and the car should move in that direction.

On the left side is a wheel and when you press it the menu opens to reveal choices for Settings and modes.

There isn’t much in the way of settings just help and setting the speed limiter. The limiter allows you to adjust the maximum speed, this is great for when you’re just starting out.

There are three modes for the car, the first is circles, the second is zigzag and the third is dancing. All of the modes are available  with both Touch and Motion controls. Circle and ZigZag are self-explanatory I think. The Dancing mode is just that, the iPod plays a song and the car dances. It’s neat but you need a lot of room.

The touch controls are a bit different than the motion ones of course. The left side has a car that is actually your ‘gas pedal’. You slide the car up and down to control the speed. The right and left arrows are for turning and the double arrow is the turbo booster. Yes it has a turbo boost but it doesn’t really do that much in terms of boosting the speed, at least not for long or not what I was expecting I should say.

The first thing I noticed about this car is the fact that it’s not Bluetooth or Infrared it’s actually RF or Radio Frequency. Personally I don’t care for infrared as there is always a lag. Bluetooth isn’t as bed but of course RF is much better as it’s more 1:1 control of the toy.

I found out this little car is fast, at least on smooth surfaces. It will not work at all on carpet, unless it’s very, very low pile. I have a rubber backed mat in my kitchen in front of the sink which is actually industrial and it has very low pile and the car works somewhat but struggles. My kitchen floor I wood, the original wood actually, I refinished it and didn’t fully sand it down to smooth. I like the rough look to it, it’s more rustic as it were. Anyway, the car runs very good  on that floor for the most part, it sits very low so it does have a rough time on the unevenness but it can be driven all around. I found the car works the best on a totally flat and smooth surface like a table or countertop. 

As far as range, you can get pretty far away from it and still control it.

I like the fact that of the head and tail lights, they do add a bit more realism to it especially since they work as they should.

The prince on this car is about $63.00 and I think that’s quite expensive for a toy, but the quality is very good overall especially the detail that goes into it.

Battery life is to be as expected with this type of thing, the car is tiny so really how big of a battery could be in it? Charge for 15 minutes get about 10 minutes of playtime, that’s the norm for this type of product.

Conclusion:

The Dexim Bugatti Veyron is a cool little gadget, there’s no doubt about it. It combines the fun of R/C with technology and what’s not to like about that?

The price is a bit steep though, then again it’s not some cheap little toy either, it’s very well made and highly detailed.

Battery life is as to be expected for this type of product and you’ve got dual charging options, either standard USB or the included external travel pack.

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