RC Pocket Racers are micro remote controlled cars that can fit in the palm of your hand. Read our RC Pocket Racers review.
About RC Pocket Racers
RC Pocket Racers are pocket-sized toy cars which can be operated via remote control. The official product website is getpocketracers.com, which was registered in June 2016. The screen capture below shows the how the official website looked in July 2016.
Claims and Features
- Fits in your hand
- Bright LED headlights
- Fast with “razor sharp handling”
- 1.2v NiCad rechargeable battery
- Charges in a few minutes
- Display case transforms into 4-way remote control
- 4 designs: Bullet, Fury, Phantom, and Bull
Cost
RC Pocket Racers cost $19.95 + $4.95 shipping. This includes 1 car, 1 remote, and 4 cones. 2 AAA batteries are required, but not included.
As of February 2017, you can find RC Pocket racers in stores – usually in the As Seen on TV section – for about $20. The version in stores doesn’t include cones.
RC Pocket Racers Review
At first glance, RC Pocket Racers may seem to be yet another Hot Wheels knockoff, but you can actually drive these micro RC cars around via a remote control.
RC Pocket Racers charge in a few minutes via a 1.2 volt NiCad rechargeable battery. The instructions indicate that it takes about 3 to 6 minutes to charge, but my experience took 7 minutes or more. It seems a bit odd to me that the car is charged via the remote, which uses AAA batteries, so charging the car is still depleting a regular battery.
Once charged up, it can be driven with the remote control that is integrated into its display case. You can steer in any direction, and each car is illuminated by white headlights when moving forward, or red tail lights when moving backward.
Other reviewers have said that the car runs for about 10 minutes per charge, but I found it to run out of steam after only about 5 minutes. The type of surface on which it is moving could affect this. The cars move quite fast and handle surprisingly well, especially when first charged.
To first set up RC Pocket Racers, you need to pair the car with the remote, which uses two AAA batteries. This pairing procedure simply includes turning the remote on first, then the car. A light will blink before pairing, and stay steady to indicate that they are paired. You can do this with multiple cars, and the process must be done one at a time.
I didn’t think the battery life vs the charge time was a good ratio. To use it for 5 minutes, then wait for 7 for it to charge really puts a damper on the fun. Perhaps more of a problem, however, is that the small wheels seem apt to pick up even the smallest debris on the floor, which quickly degrades performance. The wheels don’t seem to come off in order to easily remove debris, so I found myself spending inordinate amounts of time with tweezers trying to pull out bits of carpet or pet hair.
You can’t use RC Pocket Racers on carpet or outdoors, as the small wheels wouldn’t be able to handle a surface beyond hard wood or tile floors.
Keep in mind that pocket (or micro) RC cars are not a new idea, and there are dozens available in stores and online – many of which closely resemble this product. One such example is this Mini Coke Can RC Car which sells for about $7-$8.
On its own merits, RC Pocket Racers may live up to the hype as presented in the television commercial upon first use, but repeated play seems to quickly diminish the enjoyment factor. They aren’t the only game in town, however, and are priced on the higher end of the spectrum compared to similar products. Now that it is available in stores, it is a better deal without the shipping costs associated with the online offer.
Video Review
Below is my full video review of RC Pocket Racers.
Television Commercial
Your RC Pocket Racers Reviews
If you’ve used RC Pocket Racers, please give us your opinion by leaving a comment below and a star rating above.
Updated February 2017.
Can you race them together tho?
Yes. I have 2 and race them together. You have to pair them one by one. The instructions say you can race up to 10 cars at the same time.
Mine are great, but I have to clean the debris from the tires every time I charge it.
junk! Returned the first one to the store after it completely stopped working after only a few hours of play. Exchanged it for another and now that one is on it’s last legs barely moving even on a full charge!
im having the same problem as of now we just recieved it in the mail today and weve played with it until the charge was gone and charged it til the light turned off and its not working right anymore 🙁
The car would not pair with the remote, and therefore was useless. I followed the instructions exactly. I then tried a few other things. Nothing worked. If the car doesn’t pair with the remote, it won’t go, and you have essentially paid $20 for a little matchbox-type car. I’m returning it to get my money back. It’s a piece of junk in my opinion.