As many of you might know, I have a soft spot for R/C toys, including cars, planes, and helicopters.  However, the Hoverpod is a first for me... it's the first R/C hovercraft I've ever had a chance to play with, and it's a lot of fun.  Read on to discover what the Hoverpod can do.

Unboxing the Hoverpod

The outside packaging of the Hoverpod is colorful and nicely done.  You can see the little speeder housed inside.

I have to say that I'm a huge fan of WowWee's new packaging schemes.  No more of those silly wire ties; the Hoverpod and its remote were very easy to remove from the two-part plastic shell inside the box.  The new packaging also feels much more economical.

Examining the Hoverpod

The Hoverpod itself is really neat to look at.  It feels solid, like the rest of the FlyTech toys, and appears to be constructed of the same EPP foam used in other FlyTech products.  As we all know, that foam is extremely durable, and I expect that the Hoverpod will endure quite a bit of abuse.  In the photo above, you can see the body of the Hoverpod and its rear fin, which enables it to turn on a dime.

The Hoverpod is powered by a single prop that is mounted in the middle of its body.  The design is really quite clever, and you have to hand it to WowWee's engineers for devising a product that works in such a unique way.  Basically, the prop pulls in air (in the direction of the arrow on the body.)

As you can see in the photo above, some of the air that is drawn through the prop flows through to the bottom of the Hoverpod and into the channel you can see that is carved in the bottom, thus forming a "pillow" of air on which it floats and is propelled forward.  Pretty cool!  You can also see a fin in the photo above, which is adjustable to direct the flow of air so the Hoverpod doesn't do 360's all day long.

So, are you ready to race this thing?  Head on to the next page.

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