The new WowWee FlyTech Dragonfly is hilarious! It flys and sounds like a real dragonfly. (WowWee is best known for its Robosapien and Roboraptor robot toys.) We spent the day flying the dragonfly with our nieces, ages 5 and 8. One operated the remote control while the other helped the dragonfly begin its flight, each time yelling “flutter.” The kids would hold the dragonfly level to the ground, toss it like a paper airplane and then press the remote control and the dragonfly would begin to flutter its wings and buzz in the air. The child on the wireless remote would use the two control buttons - one for straight flying and a second for turns.

We were able to control the dragonfly, getting it to fly straight, make turns and make some smooth landings outside with a slight breeze. The dragonfly flew up to its advertised range of 50 feet. The more of a breeze we encountered the less control we had over the dragonfly, especially at far distances. The instructions say that the dragonfly works best inside, but we didn’t have a 16×16 foot space available inside for testing — so all of our tests were conducted outside.

As we all learned the controls, we also sent it on many divebombs. Everyone got the hang of the controls after several runs. The dragonfly landed on the pavement, bushes, fence, trees, grass and family members throughout the day…the only wear and tear after about 100 landings (many on its face on the pavement) was the peeling of some paint off of the dragonfly’s nose. The kids each took three turns on the controls before switching. The kids could choose from beginner or expert mode. It was addictive. We got the advertised 7 minutes of flying time on each 20 minute charge.

When it ran out of battery, the eight year old would connect it to the charger and watch to see when its eyes stopped blinking indicating it was charged. We were then immediately out the door for another run. We like the fact that the toy comes with an extra set of wings and a spare propeller. We give this toy two thumbs up! The FlyTech Dragonfly for kids ages 8 and up retails for $49.99, and comes in blue and green.