Living with the Secret Service.

It's an exciting time for kids at the moment. For years I have had many conversations about how much better it seemed being a kid in the 80's and for many reasons I stand by that comment. When it comes to toys though I can't help but feel a little jealous at what is available for kids these days. When I was young I wanted nothing more than to be a spy/adventurer. The Goonies was my big inspiration and Data (being my favourite character) was my daily driving force for solo activities to fill my time. I was constantly setting up booby traps for my family and desperately trying to find ways to make those 'slick shoes'. If the Goonies wasn't enough inspiration, there was always the bank holiday showings of the Bond movies to wet my secret agent appetite. 


 
The movies and TV shows were there but the world of toys just couldn't keep up with all those imaginative young minds. with the help of Spynet though they are definitely making up for it now. We've reviewed a few Spynet products over the years and what I love about the products is that each one oozes intrigue. also selfishly they give me the best chance to relive a youth I would have loved through the boys.

For me, the RC Recon video bot that we had reviewed a couple of years ago was everything I wanted as a kid, but that product kick started a love of spyware for the boys and we were soon walking about with a bionic ear and night vision binoculars, adding to our arsenal. Things had died down a little this year in the spy world, or maybe the boys were deep under cover? but it wasn't until last week that their love of the secret service was reborn. With new Spynet products hitting the shelves, the boys have been sneaking about the house acting exactly how I would have of at their age.

The video watch is a cool bit of kit! the mischief I could have got into with one of these back in the 80's would have been amazing. I'd have most definitely taken this into school and caused some trouble and Seth has said exactly the same thing. Being the responsible parent I am though I have discouraged this kind of thing. If I am honest though I wouldn't be at all disappointed if he decided too anyway, he's a kid after all, it's all part of the fun. You can secretly capture 20 minutes of video, 3 hours of audio or 2000 images (without the need for an extra SD card), all from the tiny camera hidden in the watch. You can also download an app for downloading the images from your watch which is great and there are downloadable spy games to play too.

As soon as we turned on the Spyclops bionic eye, I knew which one of our family of wannabe spies was going to be in complete awe of this product and it wasn't me or the boys. For a woman who is obsessed with picking, prodding and poking our skin at every given chance and who is always vocal about how much she would have loved to have been a dermatologist, this product had her hooked from the minute I plugged it in and held the bionic eye against my skin. With the on-screen images magnified by 200x, when it comes to your skin it's fascinating what comes up, especially when investigating my beard.  The Spyclops Bionic eye is going to come in very handy over the coming months for Opeie's science lessons especially because of the petri dish also included in the package. I just need to work on focusing a little more to get the best results.

I can't wait to see what Spynet come up with next, these products have opened the boys up to a world of intrigue and intelligent creative imaginative play. 

"No one ever approaches perfection except by stealth, and unknown to themselves."

The boys love playing spies and Seth is a huge James Bond fan, so gadgets always come into their play at some point. Spy net have released some amazing products over the last couple of years that I would have loved when I was a child, the RC Recon Video Bot especially. While we should have been playing spies with Spynets latest product we ended up playing a really interesting game which turned out to be a fun homeschooling exercise.

Opeie sat up stairs on the bunk bed armed with a SpyNet Vibrasonic Walkie Talkie, a clipboard with paper and a selection of coloured pens...

...and I sat down stairs with the other headset, paper and pens. We've had walkie talkies before but these are really interesting as they use vibrasonic technology. You can hear what your team mate is saying without the use of speakers or an ear piece but most importantly when wearing the headpiece you are the only person that can hear what the other person is saying. Great for more stealthy missions.

This time though was a less stealthy mission. As we sat at either end of the house (there is a 30m range) and gave each other commands and descriptions of what to draw for each other. Opeie asked for a Deathstar body and hockey stick legs with spikes on. This was a great home ed exercise for Opeie as it was great for communication, use of descriptive words and of course creative drawing.

The headsets are really clear, and although they were not a great fit on my big bold head they were definitely usable and I could hear perfectly. Size wise these were clearly made for children though. The Spynet Vibrasonic Walkie talkies have been a great addition to our arsenal of spyware and they will get some great use over the coming months. For more of Spynet's great products check out Spynet HQ.

 

"Not all those who wander are lost."

We were having our usual fun at the park today, it was cold and the sky was grey but we were wrapped up warm, scooting, chatting and as always enjoying each others company. It was a nice relaxing and lazy Sunday afternoon after a busy day yesterday. But then disaster! the smallest member of our family unit decided to run off and like a rocket he was gone... But where to?

The thing about our quick footed little three year old is he's pretty good at hiding and being that small he fits into spaces us fully grown humans just don't fit. After a brief scout around the area Seth decided it was time to bring in back up. 

The Spy Net RC Recon Video Bot is a serious bit of kit based on a military prototype and has even been featured in the tv show 24. It is perfect for any budding little super spy in the making but also comes in handy for us clumsy parents who misplace our loved ones.  I would have been so excited to have owned something like this when I was younger, I was a huge James Bond fan and inspector gadget was one of my heroes. The Goonies was my favourite movie and I was always trying to make cool gadgets like Data. I just wanted to be a secret agent where very item around me, no matter how insignificant could be used for something AWESOME!

The RC Recon Bot is a strong durable piece of tech and it's solid outer shell means that it can withstand a fair amount of banging about. The unit can be thrown over any wall of ahead of you around 30ft for obstacles blocking your vision and can be used as a robot roaming vehicle with built in camera and a video screen on the remote. You can manoeuvre the robot 360 degrees and the lens can be manually adjusted to suit your roaming needs. To start our afternoon child hunt we dropped our unit down a hole in the parks climbing frame and began our recon mission...

Seth was up first and went looking around the smaller climbing frame for his little brother. The RC Recon Video bot has been able to get over every terrain we have tried it on so far, the tooth like wheels even got over a raised door frame at nanny and grandads house which i thought was really impressive, so roaming around this smooth wooden structure was no problem. Mrs M looked a little concerned about the welfare of the unit when it approached the slide but because of the solid casing, bouncing down the slide wasn't an issue. Sadly still no sign of our missing boy though?

Mommy was up next taking the unit over a bench and off the other side to search underneath too. but the boy was nowhere to be found.I love it when Mrs M gets involved in our adventures. We set up an assault course at home to put the device through its paces and she got quite competitive.

My turn to continue our search and i had a feeling Opeie may have been across the wobbly balancing beam, i was sure our robotic rescue unit could also balance across the full length of the beam and i was right the controls can be crazy if you want it to spin around lots but on more delicate journeys it works well under the pressure and can be quite smooth to control.

Where was that child of ours hiding???

Almost running out of places to search we guided the RC Roamer towards the big climbing frame hoping to get some sort of lead as to where Opeie had got to.

Seth had to get the bot over a difficult bit of the park and we had a couple of issues with the wheels not being able to get over rope ladders (well you've got to try) but from a tactical view point the unit was tackling every task and obstacle with the greatest of ease.

Thinking we had combed the park area thoroughly we assumed the little secret agent had fooled us and we were ready to give up, when we spotted something in the distance and sent the RC unit to investigate our findings.

There he was that little angel of ours quietly reading a book. The spy Net RC Recon Video Bot completed its first full mission perfectly, finding the lost member of our party and returning him to the people that love him most. 

With the mission complete it was time to head home, all that was left to do was test the range on the remote, if you can see that little dot on the white line ahead then you can see it can go a fair distance with the video feed staying as clear throughout its journey.

Seth being the massive Bond fan that he is has gone Spy Net mad so this afternoon we headed up to our local toy store to spend Seths winnings that he had been saving from hustling Mrs M every week over who was going to be star baker on the bake off each episode, she'll never learn.

We came home with the Spy Net Laser Trip Wire ready for our next adventure and since the visit the big kid in me is pining after the Ultra Vision Goggles, I could have so much fun with those babies! Stay tuned for our next spy related caper.