Kids plugged into battery life

The R/C vehicle category continues to advance and innovate, adding more bells and whistles with every new release. From realistic lights and sounds to exceptional maneuverability and stunt capabilities, today's R/C vehicles do everything but drive themselves. But since keeping costs down is just as important as increasing the consumer value proposition, it's important to understand which features are really important to kids and which are just pricey extras. In a recent Toy Tracker survey conducted by consulting firm Funosophy Inc., 300 boys ages 6-11 ranked the importance of various R/C features.

When asked to rank the importance of various features when playing with R/C vehicles, 53 percent of boys ages 6-11 ranked “long running time” most important! The need for more play time between charges even outranked other top features like speed, maneuverability, and the ability to do cool stunts.

Not surprisingly, speed ranked second highest with boys in both the 6-8 and 9-11 year old age groups, with 46 percent of boys saying this was the “most important” feature. Good maneuverability and the ability to do cool stunts tied for third most important feature, both with a 38 percent vote.

It's also important to note the ranking of the “ease of use” response. Both 6-8 and 9-11 year old boys ranked this feature fifth, behind battery life, speed, maneuverability and stunt capabilities. Ease of use outranked the ability to perform on multiple terrains, one of the newer features in the category.

Interestingly, lights and sounds are least important to boys, with nearly 30 percent of boys ages 6-11 saying they “don't matter” or are “not very important.” This feature becomes even less important as boys age.

While speed, maneuverability, and the ability to do cool stunts are all important to boys, nothing matters if the batteries are dead! Long-lasting battery life is imperative to play value in this category. Ease of use is also a marketing message to convey – kids want to know that they'll be able to operate their R/C vehicles easily and effectively.