I purchased 2 sets of these laser tag guns to expand the set of 4 my daughters received as a present. The idea is that when they have a party, everyone can play. They are a lot of fund, and at $59/set, or $15 per gun, they are costing about the same as a Super Soaker, but you can play indoors, outdoors, at night, etc.
Now for the products themselves. They are pretty good. I've been a "home consumer" of laser tag guns since the 1980s. Here's the problem with lasertag. If you don't put a hit sensor on the gun, someone will always shoot from cover so their sensor is concealed but they can shoot you. On the other hand, with the sensor in the gun, you can just hide your gun and stay safe. LazerTag guns from way back had no sensors in them. If you were caught covering your chest sensor, the only recourse was to kick you out of the game. The solution was to buy add-on hats that hat 360 sensors. Then you could by automatic rifles too, which would effectively kill your opponent with one hit. The best solution was also the least fun -- Photon sold complete wired up sets with giant chest sensors, back sensors, helmet sensors AND gun muzzle sensor. By the time you suited up, though, you were playing dress up and not combat. If I remember right, there were red and green suits. If you had a red suit, you could only score hits on kids in green suits. So, you know, forget about ever mixing up teams.
The Kidzlane for foray into Lazer sports is a compromise. Sensors are in the guns. The guns have automatic settings that increase damage, at the expense of reload times. (Reloading has been borrowed from modern video game shooters). You get to pick a team, and the LED on your gun shows what team you are on. White is easily confused with the light purple, but otherwise it's a neat idea. EXCEPT there is no setting lock down. So not only can you just hide your gun in your shirt and have total immunity, but you can actually switch teams during the game, as well as turn your gun on and off.
Understanding that there is no obvious work-around to the latter limitation without some kind of networking, it still decreases the utility of these kits. Because it is a "x-hits" and you are out, it also means the incentive to cheat is huge, not because kids are inherent cheaters, but they just want to keep playing. Given the price of memory chips today, it would have been fairly simply to program a game mode where rather than counting down hits, it counts up hits (this is how most Lazer arena's keep games going for 30 minutes.) The extra manufacturing cost to do that would be pretty nominal. Then you could have a party with a dozen of these and let the kids play for 30 minutes. At it is, the first few honest kids to get knocked out come drifting back within 2 minutes, and after 5-10 minutes, are wondering if their friends just turned their guns off and on to reset their lives.
So I offer a qualified positive review here. These guns are perfect for a casual 5-minute squirt gun type laser battle and free for all fight where nobody is really keeping score. But the design department could have made just a tiny change and made them truly able to use the expand-ability feature to wage lazer tag wars with many kids that would last a long time. All they had to do was maybe eliminate one of the 4 "automatic" modes, which each have their own unique firing audio, and in it's place dedicate 8 bits memory to counting up to 256 hits per "battle royale" mode.
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From the brand
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You know firsthand how shopping for better kids' toys can be complex. We're parents too and have set out to make raising your children – as well as our own – all fun and games. There's so much more to toys than their entertainment factor alone. We all want our children to enjoy happy playtime that is safe, age-appropriate, educational, affordable, and loads of fun. And at KidzLane, we meet each of these benchmarks in every one of our toys.
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Product Description
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| Laser Tag Blaster (Set of 4) | Laser Tag Blaster & Vests (Set of 2) | Laser Tag Blaster & Vests (Set of 4) | Laser Tag Blaster & Vests (Set of 4) | |
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| Customer Reviews |
6,881
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10,729
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| Price | $53.99 | — | $99.99 | — |
| Batteries Required (full set) | Built-in Rechargeable Batteries | 12 x AAA Batteries (Not Included) | 24 x AAA Batteries (Not Included) | Built-in Rechargeable Batteries |
| Shooting Distance | 130ft | 150ft | 150ft | 150ft |
| Vests required? | No | Yes (included) | Yes (included) | Yes (included) |
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Kidzlane Laser Tag Set of 4 - Multiple Sounds and Teams
Dan Currier
Reviews with images
Perfect for the price
Absolutely love these! Bought them for my teenage son and his friends. They love the fact that there are multiple sounds lights and the ability to change the amount of players! Worth every penny!
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2019
Color: Multi Color - BatterySize: Set of 4Verified Purchase
Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2024
Color: Multi Color - BatterySize: Set of 4Verified Purchase
Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2024
Color: Multi Color - BatterySize: Set of 4Verified Purchase
Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2023
Color: Multi Color - BatterySize: Set of 4Verified Purchase
Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2016
Color: Multi Color - BatterySize: Set of 4Verified Purchase
Top reviews from other countries
Daniel Guerrero
Cumplen con lo que buscaba
Reviewed in Mexico on February 6, 2024Color: Multi Color - BatterySize: Set of 4Verified Purchase
James B.
Real Life Call Of Duty! These are excellent, well built, easy to use and tonnes of fun
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 21, 2021Color: Multi Color - BatterySize: Set of 4Verified Purchase
Steph
Absolutely the best game for social distancing!
Reviewed in Canada on May 14, 2020Color: Multi Color - BatterySize: Set of 4Verified Purchase
