ProdMod ™

I haven’t written a product review in a long time, but I am compelled to write one today. At the end of the entry find out how you can earn money by making one of your own.

I have been looking for some sort of non-electronic tablet that will allow me to easily sketch out my ideas and erase them with ease. Something compact and simple. I have considered a large dry erase board but I am not good at sketching on a vertical surface. As I browsed the aisles at Container Store in NYC I decided I might buy a small dry erase board and just use it on my lap. I found a simple rectangular aluminum one that was also magnetic made by Bi-silque. I love the magnetic eraser that doubles as a holder for the marker. Looks very convenient but I am not sure how it would work sitting on my lap.

Next to it I saw another product that was specifically designed as a portable dry erase board. It is called slate and is from Cocoa, LLC. What a great idea! It isn’t magnetic but I probably wont use a magnet if its on my lap anyway. It is made of clear plastic and has a slot that accepts paper so you can change the background to a grid or a calendar etc. So it can be anything you want it to be. The body is clear and can be written on both sides. When it was still in its blister pack it seemed like it was made of two halves of very rigid heavy duty plastic riveted together. But when I removed it from the packaging Read more »

Can you believe it! The BlipToys website is finally up! They finally have a presence on the internet for you to browse products and contact them for support.

The site looks pretty good and you get to see other products they offer including the Trigger Fire launcher I haven’t seen in stores yet. They also have other toy lines like Card-works and Pin Print and Hairballs under the Wild Time brand.

I contacted them this morning through email and asked about Zoom-O replacement discs for my very important readers.

I had a very nice email chat with Alison Whitaker of Blip Toys, Inc.

Unfortunately replacement discs are not for sale at this time, but she was willing to send me a few by mail. How cool is that?

“But what about my friends, they need them too?” I asked. “Their kids have been crying for months” *

“Please direct others to our website and they may contact us via the service@bliptoys.com email address if they need replacement discs.” she said.

Not bad I thought.

So off you go moms and dads. Go get your Zoom-O discs for your kids. (ZoomO refills)

I would guess they wouldn’t send you a whole bunch of them, however, so if you are interested in more than a few to last you through enough dog chewing, roof topping, and bush hiding for the next year you’ll probably have to wait to see what develops down the road.

Maybe they’ll offer them for sale eventually. Who knows?

But whatever happens I’ll try to keep you posted with the latest.

I hope this helps you all out for a bit and keeps your kids happy. Let me know how it goes and leave a comment when you get your parts.

Remember you can subscribe to the comments by ticking the check box below the comment box. Then any comments will be emailed to you directly.

*Disclaimer: I didn’t actually say what I have in quotes up there, but I did ask what other people should do and that is her quote and she does welcome your emails.

Here are some results of my test of the Zoom-O Catch and Fire motorized ball launcher gun from Blip, Inc.

If you are looking for a quick intro on this toy you can go here.

In this post I comment on Comfort, Noise, and Shooting. Then I talk about everything I’d like to change about this toy in Modification Notes.

Comfort:

It is so uncomfortable to hold and shoot. It has too much weight in the front which you end up supporting with you index finger. Meanwhile you can barely get the rest of your hand around the second fat trigger. Even when you pull the second trigger it only moves slightly. My hand cramped up in a few minutes. If I had trouble with it I can’t imagine how a 6 yr old would manage.

In the sequence of photos above you’ll see my ring finger squeezes the bottom trigger first, then my index and middle squeezes the top trigger.

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Back in Feb 07 I reviewed a similar toy from Blip called Zoom-O Ball Launcher and I was commenting on how it would be so much better if they made a gun out of it so kids can shoot each other instead of just shooting up in the air. Well it looks like my wish was granted. I was at Target today and spotted this large gun hidden on the bottom shelf (and the older ball launcher was no where to be found). Because of my previous product review I felt obligated to buy it and take a closer look.

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Over the past few months a number of visitors have shown interest in
replacement discs for various Zoom-O disc-launcher toys.
Some discs were eaten by pets , others simply broke, and others got lost in the neighbor’s bushes.

You want replacements, and you want them now!

Read more »