Octonauts Toy Review!

Octonauts Explore, Rescue, Protect! If that motto sounds familiar then chances are you have some Octonauts fans at home. These undersea adventurers are popular with children all over the world and thanks to their new range of toys from Fisher Price they’re bound to feature heavily on Christmas Lists. We were sent a few items from the range to review and today I’m sharing our thoughts.

Deep Sea Octo-Lab

‘The Deep Sea Octo-Lab opens up to reveal two floors of play inside, and comes with air-powered rescue tools for deep sea rescue. Hook up your rescue tools to the hoses, turn the dial on the base to select the tool you’d like to activate, and push down on the pump to shoot a kelp cake, launch a rescue flare, or activate the volcano! The pump also activate lights and sounds that will prompt you through the ultimate deep sea adventure. All pieces store inside. Deep Sea Station Playset includes playset with lights and sounds, Shellington Deep Sea figure, Octo Bot, kelp cake, rescue flare, volcano, lava rocks, and three air power hoses.’

OctolabMy kids were highly anticipating receiving this particular toy but did the reality live up to the hype?

It’s probably safe to say that the air-powered rescue tools are one of the most attractive features of the Octo-Lab. However you have to make sure that the hoses are really well pushed into their holes, otherwise the air-power is somewhat lack lustre. The tools don’t shoot far and wide which I personally think is a bonus as we’ve not lost any of them or accidentally poked anyone in the eye! At the end of this review I’ve included a video to show just how effective they are.

The lights and sound are great fun and the Octo-Lab is actually surprisingly loud. Batteries are required to make this feature work though and they don’t come included in the box.

From a parents point of view I love the fact that everything can fit neatly within the Octo-lab which makes tidying a breeze. From a kids point of view:

Agent G – It was wonderful and great!

Lieutenant I – I love pumping up the hose toys!

Captain N – I like Shellington and the jellyfish and the lights are brilliant!

Gup-DGup D Crab Mode

‘Barnacles, in the GUP-D, is ready to lead the crew on exciting new adventures! On land, the GUP-D’s drill can move and spin for pretend excavation and repair work! For undersea missions, submerge the GUP-D’s drill & press the fin to see the drill spin & squirt water! The rescue claw is perfect for transporting wounded creatures back to safety! Also included is Barnacles in his special deep sea suit and a Blue Crab, too!’

The Gup-D is a lot of fun and a really nice size for my youngest to carry around, I also think it complements the Octo-Lab brilliantly. My favourite feature has to be the ability to use it underwater so the claw can spin, bath-time has never been so exciting in our house!

Agent G – It’s really cool because it has a drill.

Lieutenant I – You can make different Octonauts sit in it and it can go in the bath and it squirts water which is amazing!

Captain N – I love Captain Barnacles and the squirty claw.

 Kwazii Plush

Mini Plush Kwazii

Kwazii is without a doubt the favourite character for my youngest and he was ridiculously happy when he arrived. The plush is well constructed and beautifully soft. Beyond that I can’t tell you much more because Kwazii was snaffled away by Captain N and rarely leaves his side.

Captain N – Kwazii is the best! He’s cool and he’s a pirate and he’s really soft and I love him!

Final Thoughts

All my children have really enjoyed playing with the Octonauts toys and have now requested more, which says it all really!

They appear to be well made and durable. The RRP is quite high in some cases (The Octo-Lab has an RRP of £39.99) however most stores are currently selling it for £19.99-£29.99 which seems more realistic.

Overall I don’t think any Octonauts fan would be disappointed if Santa dropped some of these down the chimney for Christmas.

The Toys in Action

What better way to explain the toys than with a little video showing them in action, enjoy!

Hot Wheels Mid-Air Madness Review

Back in October I reviewed the wonderful Hot Wheels Wall Track toy. My children abdolutely loved it so I was thrilled when asked to review the brand new Mid-Air Madness track!

Just like last time we found the track very easy to assemble and attach to the wall. It’s also a little more compact in width making it perfect for smaller bedrooms. The instuctions also doubled as a background poster which definitely enhanced the fun as far as my kids were concerned.

Having kept the kids at bay during construction we let them loose on their new toy. They absolutely adored it! Cars wizz around the track at speed, flying through the air before landing with ease and carrying on their whirlwind journey round and round.

The track did require large D batteries which unfortunately were not included, this caused a slight delay while we popped to the shops. We also found that they drained the batteries rather quickly, so make sure you have plenty on standby if you don’t want unhappy faces all around.

On day two of the wall track one piece did keep disconnecting from the wall due to the sheer force as the cars landed. This was rather annoying to me but the kids seemed unfazed and just kept reconnecting it and carrying on.

Another day on and a piece fell off the wall, I rather think this was down to us perhaps not attaching the wall strips firmly enough. Unfortunately two patches of wall paint disappeared along with the track pieces, this did not happen with our first Wall Track set, so I am unsure if it was my walls that caused the problem or the track.

Once we had reattached the track it stayed put, with no further falls or disconnections. The best advice would be, make sure it’s really well stuck the first time!

Would I recommend this product?

Considering how happy all my children are (not just the boys) I would definitely recommend it.It seems to provide hours of fascination and fun.

Could it be improved in anyway?

I would like to see the batteries last a little longer. It’s also a fairly audible toy, akin to a typical fan noise so don’t attach it in the TV room.

Details

Mid-air Madness Track RRP £29.99

Available at all good toy retailers online and instore.

Further details available at the Hot Wheels website.