When the folks at Griffin were choosing a mythical creature for which to name their company1, they might have gone with Janus instead, to better reflect the schizophrenic nature of its offering: serious computer accessories vs. frivolous toys.
That’s not to say that the toys are bad. On the contrary, Griffin’s iOS-controlled choppers look amazing. And now they’re joined by these remote-controlled monster trucks.
I have mixed feelings about remote-controlled cars. The promise is awesome, but whenever I scrounged up enough pocket money to buy one, it was slow, had a crappy radio range, and the batteries dies after what seemed like a few minutes (and this was before I’d even heard of rechargeable batteries).
Like everything else in the world, though (apart from cops shows), tech-toys have improved greatly since the 1970s, and the $60 MOTO Monster is powered by its own built-in NiMH battery pack. It is also controlled by Bluetooth, meaning that you need to spend a minimum of $200 to get an iOS device to drive it.
Still, it looks worth it. Not only can you control the truck with on-screen virtual sticks, you can also tilt to steer, use a finger to slide over the screen in the direction you want the truck to take or – best of all – let it run automatically on pre-recorded routes (you can record these yourself).
Now you can just go grab a coffee while the car chases the cat all by itself. How’s that for modern-day convenience?
The MOTO Monster is available now.
Source: Griffin Technology
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We know that the company was actually named for founder Peter Griffin, who went on to sell the company and star in the sitcom Family Guy. No need to e-mail us.↩