The Best Battery Operated Toy Under $100!
A great set even for those who never bought LEGO before…
Oooh! I know. The title. Very intriguing, right? Luckily for me, no one can accuse me of misleading anyone, click-baiting and whatnot because the subtitle makes this article’s topic quite clear. If you expected this to be about something else, in pretty colours, perhaps in the shape of a banana 🍌, get your mind out of the gutter, and keep reading. You might actually discover something cool today, namely the LEGO App-controlled Transformation Vehicle. Yup. That’s what it’s called…
For a set that’s probably one of the most unimaginatively named sets ever, it packs a punch. In a good way, but I’ll get to that in a couple of paragraphs. I had one and only one reason to get the #42140 set — it’s one of the not too many app-controlled sets, and certainly, one of the cheapest you can get your hands on. I was curious about a few things:
- Is the Control+ app any good?
- How well does the app integrate with LEGO?
- Is it good enough value for money?
- Does the digital interface get in the way or enhances the play experience?
The added benefit of this particular set is that it actually promises a fun play experience. I know that technically all Technic sets are fun, but for the price, this one seemed like a better deal than the alternatives.
It’s not a large set by any means. With just 772 pieces, it barely qualifies as a medium set in my book, and out of those 772, nearly 100 are just track pieces and just as many rubber attachments. Looking at piece-count alone, you could mistake this for a terrible value set, and I wouldn’t blame you. Where it does make up for that though is the added Control+ hub and two motors. This not only means that the vehicle can go backwards and forwards, but also steer and do so 360 degrees with insane accuracy, in place if necessary! Additionally, this being a 2022 set, you also get some interesting new pieces that I, for one, haven’t seen before.
A surprisingly agile and versatile remote-control experience for such a small set!
In terms of build experience, it’s a mixed bag. Nothing too fancy, and for a 9+ set, that’s somewhat understandable, but the way the spring-loaded mechanism works to act as both shock absorber and transformation-trigger is pretty clever. Essentially, as the vehicle reaches the wall and starts going vertical, it reaches a tipping point where it flips on its “back” which is actually another vehicle. Just like a cat, it always lands on its feet. It also doesn’t take long to build, around 90 minutes. The most boring and painful — genuinely — part is building the two tracks and adding the rubber attachments. After nearly 200 of those, you really feel like that was quite enough for one day.
Questions answered
So, as I said, I went into this build with several questions, and I’m pleased to say that I have good enough answers now, to perhaps help you decide whether this battery-operated toy is for you or not.
- The Control+ app is OK. It’s not great, but also not terrible. I felt that certain functions either were unnecessary or just bloat. The added engine noise for effect, I found to be quite distracting. In general, though, it’s not a bad app. While it never crashed, I do have to say that navigation within the app, or just closing it, isn’t always straight-forward. The UX still needs to be worked on, if you ask me.
- As someone who cares a lot about UX, I can’t exactly say the app feels very LEGO. Having said that, I also didn’t notice any functionality issues in controlling the vehicle with the app, so in that respect I think LEGO did a good job. I did not notice any lag, or missed commands by the hub and the motors.
- There are two ways I can answer this. The set itself, before the price hikes and on special offer, is a good buy. I would very much urge everyone to really shop around for this one, as there are plenty of places that will sell it for under 100 bucks. Anything beyond, it’s not worth it, and not just because of its piece-count and general value, but the fact that this set can only function with a smart-phone or tablet which you must already own. You could buy the LEGO remote separately, but that would involve spending another 23 bucks on top.
- I think that the digital interface through the app, definitely adds some value to the play experience and even some of the controls feel a little more organic and refined. The customisability is also welcome. The games that you can play with it, though, I’m not so sure, are worth any attention. When I play with LEGO, the last thing I want to look at is a screen.
The App-controlled Transformation Vehicle is a good set to own, especially if you’re into remote controlled builds, want two motors in a fairly small set and a number of other quite valuable pieces. The downside is that unless you already have some wheels in your collection, you won’t really be able to rebuild this set into anything else but tracked vehicles, which severely limits your options in terms of MOCs. It also comes with more stickers than I would like to see on any LEGO set, but given the target audience of 9-year-olds, I can see how I might be in the minority on this one.
A great contender for those who want to get creative with remote control functions, and don’t mind some of the piece-limitations.
Hi there! 👋
Recently, I started a new publication — Bricks n’ Brackets — dedicated to LEGO, tech and coding. It would mean a huge deal to me if you’d follow it, though only do so, if any of those topics pique your interest. You can also read more about why I started it and what my overall goal with it is. You can also join as a writer if you’d like, as long as you submit articles around those three topics. The publication also has a YouTube, Instagram and TikTok channel. Thank you, and may the gods of creativity and success guide your day!
Attila Vago — Software Engineer improving the world one line of code at a time. Cool nerd since forever, writer of codes and blogs. Web accessibility advocate, LEGO fan, vinyl record collector. Loves craft beer! Read my Hello story here!
