Estes Viper Toy Review by ChristineMM

Price: $45 MSRP

To review this product I enlisted the help of my sons aged 11 and 14 who have experience playing with various (under $50) flying toys.

The first recommendation I have is to not fly this over a hard surface (i.e. asphalt or concrete) as the first few runs (when we had not figured out the controls yet) resulted in dive-bombs nose-first into the ground. Even hitting a mown grass field the Styrofoam plane began getting beat up after the first crash. The construction of this toy is just like some of the Air Hog brand helicopters that we’ve owned.

This plane comes with two extra propellers which I advise you bring with you because we lost one of our propellers after the fifth crash. They are black and hard to find when on the ground after they fall off mid-flight or after the crash. Note: if you crash it, look at it immediately and check for the propeller. Don’t walk away and realize later that it’s gone as finding it among the grass blades will be impossible. (Maybe they should have made them a neon color to help us?)

My main complaint is the price. I estimate $20 to be a more reasonable price than MSRP $45.

The Styrofoam construction which is typical of other brand toys on the market at present presents a problem when sometimes during a crash they break, so I worry about how long this will last. You cannot fly it without the propellers. I believe you may buy extra ones from the manufacturer.

The item was packed well within the Estes box with Styrofoam so it was not damaged in shipping. Mine came with a set of instructions but to get a feel for how to fly it correctly you just have to use trial and error and play with it.

My sons loved this. After family discussion we rate it using Amazon’s rating system of 4 Stars = We Like It, taking 1 star off for lack of durability and the high cost.

Disclosure: I received this product from Amazon.com’s Vine program. I was not paid to write the review nor was I under obligation to write a favorable review. I was not paid or mandated to post this review on my blog. For my blog’s full disclosure statement see the link near the top of my blog’s sidebar.