I had some problems trying to run it uphill. One thing to remember, while the motor of the Ollie Darkside is pretty strong, it really works better running on a level surface. If you plan on racing the Ollie Darkside on dirt, you really should swap out the tires for some nubby ones that get a bit better traction in the dirt. One is slick and really great for racing around inside and testing out how well you can drift. You will learn how to do some nifty tricks as well as how to customize the lighting (this is very cool, by the way) and some other parameters like if you are driving on hard or soft ground or if you are driving outside or not.Īnother thing is that the Ollie Darkside comes with two sets of tires. Once you are connected, I highly recommend going through the tutorials. I’m getting a bit geeky here but I do have to point out how easy it is to connect and change controlling smartphones. You can’t pair from a distance so the software is probably looking for something very close by to pair with. I’m guessing that very close proximity of the phone and the Ollie Darkside with the bluetooth testing the distance allows you to easily pair the two devices. This is almost magical in how it works but by holding the phone on the Ollie allows you to pair with it. Once you have fully charged the Ollie Darkside, turn on your bluetooth on your smartphone and you simply “tap” your smartphone to the Ollie Darkside. If you charge using a wall plug (think about using a smart phone or tablet charger actually), the charge time is much faster than using the USB port of a computer.īe sure you have downloaded the Ollie app before you do anything (otherwise you can’t control the Ollie Darkside). When it turns green, you are good to go (and have quite a bit of run time…I’m not talking minutes but more tens of minutes…like 50-60 minutes!). There is a light that lets you know the status of the charge. Out of the box, you just need to plug in the Ollie Darkside into a power source (either a not-included plug or a computer’s USB port) with the included USB cable. With speeds up to 14 MPH (try chasing after that), a bluetooth range of up to 100 feet and a smartphone app that lets you simply control the Ollie Darkside using just one thumb (or using both thumbs if you hold your smartphone sideways to enable a stunt-mode using your left thumb), it’s hard to not have fun with this motorized gadget. The Sphero Ollie Darkside (which has a less “ominous” sibling simply called the Ollie), is fun out of the box. And, it too is controlled via a smartphone app, complete with tricks and sound effects. Well, the engineers and developers at Sphero have taken much of the same fun and repackaged it as a two-wheeled contraption that has flashing, multi-colored lights and a variety of tricks. What’s not to like about a ball that lights up in a variety of colors, all being controlled via bluetooth on a smart phone. Well, I was wrong about our dog who pretty much ignores the Ollie Darkside, but my kids and I actually like it quite a lot.Ī few years ago, Sphero came out with their rolling ball, called the Sphero (now on version 2.0) which my kids and I also played with a lot. In fact, I thought that the new Sphero Ollie (the “Darkside” version) would even be fun for my little dog to chase around. What’s not fun about flying something through the sky or racing around on the floor. In fact, I’m guessing these fun gadgets will be hot any time, with kids and their childish parents alike, myself included. Drones and wirelessly controlled robots WILL be the rage this holiday season.
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