Estes 1491 Taser Rocket Launch Set, Beginner Flying-Rocket-Model Building Kit for Ages 10+, Includes Launch Pad System

I give it 1 star for the wind crashing into lake. But I give it 5 stars for the experience with the kids. They loved it but unfortunately I wasn’t swimming for it. She gone. Nice and easy to put together. Perfect size to build nothing you can’t do in an hour. All the parts were in the box and the quality was great for a toy thats not a forever thing.

This was our first rocket and I had no idea what I was doing and I wasn't sure what to expect regarding the difficulty. The directions were clear and easy to follow and after a short time we had a rocket ready to launch. The taser is a smaller rocket, it has a sleek and appealing look that makes it visible after launch and easy to find after touchdown. We did 5 or 6 launches our first time out starting with the smaller a sized engines and worked up to the c sized engines. The c sized engines were impressive, I'm not sure what altitudes we were reaching but the rocket was barely visible at its peak, and took quite a while to return to earth. The rocket did really well and held up to the launches just fine and is still in service. My six year old son and I had a really good time time building and launching the rocket and we have built several others since. This kit includes everything but the motors, wadding, and starters. You'll need to buy those seperately. You'll also need AA batteries for the launch button, I think it takes 4 batteries. I definitely recommend this kit for anyone who is considering a new hobby, just be aware it's addicting.

My elder daughter bought this for her younger (and very science minded) sister For Xmas, Off Amazon. She is 11, and had no problem assembling it without any adult assistance. We shot it off 3 times in one day, 3 chute deployments. We used A3 standard engines The kit did not come with wadding, so we improvised, using ordinary pink fiberglass insulation (which is easy to track and retrieve, by the way)Whilst looking for some tips on flying the rocket on Youtube, I came across someone that strapped a 808 Car Key Chain Spy Camera Recorder 720*480 TF - New We decided to try it. The results were spectacular! Search for "rocket cam final2" on youtube to view Point by point: 1: The Kit comes with (almost) everything. (Wadding and motors come up as recommendation, just add them.) 2: - Do your homework RE rocket engine sizes! I recommend a8-3 as a starter, B6-4 if you are going to strap on cameras. 3: The Rocket is good for repeated Launches.(so far, we count 10, we had to repair one fin and lost the engine nut. Duct tape works fine for holding the engine) 4: Amazon is by far the most affordable place to buy the basic stuff. Once again - do your homework on what fits and what does not! 5: The kit is well worth the price - but your engines and wadding will double it, and if like my daughter, you like it, it will require more engines.

To start with, a good recommendation for beginners would be to buy a rocket "kit" rather than just a rocket. Rocket kits come with a launch pad and the launch pad's accessories so buying the kit gets you that required stuff; the kits also come with with a rocket. From there what you will need seperately will be recovery wadding (which gets added to the rocket tube before each launch to protect the parachute from the engine blast and provide flame retardant), engines (to power the launch), some craft glue or super glue (for rocket assembly) and 4 AA batteries (for the ingenious electronic launch kit). This TASER rocket kit was a great place to start. For a modest price, this included a TASER rocket and the adjustable angle Porta-Pad launch pad (*reference the reviewer from 2014 that stated the pad is not adjustable, I can only assume Estes upgraded the launch pad in the last several years). Some assembly is required; together with my tween kids this took about a half hour to assemble; most of that time being dedicated to waiting for the super glue to set as we added each piece. Directions are fairly straight forward and the process is safe. Another recomendation I can make is to consider buying a seperate, fully assembled rocket in addition to the basic kit; doing so is a few dollars more but gives the flexibility of having a backup rocket in the event the assembly goes awry or the rocket cannot be recovered after a launch. That is what I did, and despite the assembly going fine and having recovered the rocket after our first launch, it was good to know we had a backup because on a few occasions our launch resulted in a never-to-be-seen again wind blown rocket and a rocket-in-a-tree situation. Plus you can set up for two launches at a time which is nice. All tallied up, I was in for about $48; that included this kit, wadding, engines and a back up ATHENA rocket. I had glue and batteries at home so I did not count that. The launch process is relatively simple and my kids have done it as well. The long wire extending from the launch kit allows the person launching to be a safe distance away from the rocket. I have included a short video of our first launch for reference; you can judge by the enthusiasm of my two boys how much kids (and many adults) dig rockets. One last tip I can offer is to start out with the lower powered A engines; then if you stick with it and get the hang of it, go to the C engines. Have fun, this is a nice hobby to do with kids. It makes them focus, build, get fresh air and think about physics while also getting the rush of launching and recovering a rocket. Have fun.

Great kit! Had a blast at the beach with the kids shooting this rocket off. Came with some stuff for the engines that I didn’t expect but a good starter kit. Launcher also worked well for some other rockets we had.

We got this for our girls for Christmas. It went together easy and was pretty much a complete setup to go out and do some launches. Obviously had to buy the motors (well, that and the battery for the launcher). I just wadded up some toilet paper to serve as wadding. First time, the parachute got a tiny bit melted so after that I balled up the toilet paper and that was enough to protect the parachute. Only thing that was a little annoying was that getting the motor in and the motor holder screwed on was a little tight. I actually crushed the rocket body fighting with the motor holder but was able to straighten it out. The girls had fun launching the rocket about six times and then we gave the set to friends. Overall it was a fun family activity.

This is a good starter kit for getting into rocketry. But, you will likely want to upgrade very quickly, especially since the rocket parts may not last through more than 5 or 6 launches. I bought this for my 6 year old to get a taste of the hobby. I was an avid rocketeer when I was a kid and wanted my son to experience it. The received product kit was not what was described and shown in the picture. Though the rocket is the same, the launch controller is a cheaper version. It uses a 9V battery. Firing wasn't accurate. We would have to play around with the launch key to make sure it was sitting properly and squeeze it with the launch button. Each launch would require at least 2 tries of the button. A bit anti-climatic after the countdown! The launch pad was different, too. But it is of acceptable quality. I like the way it is assembled and disassembled. The kit instructions described a piece that required cutting and folding over the rubber band that softened the impact from the parachute deployment. Our kit didn't have that, but you could make your own by folding index paper to do the same. Unfortunately, the glue wouldn't stick the paper to the inside of the rocket. This resulted in the nose cone coming safely down, while the rocket body hurtled to its crash. After a few such landings, a fin snapped off the rocket body. It wasn't broken, however, and we simply snapped it back in place a got a few more very straight launches! After a few more rough landings, the rocket body bent beyond safe use. The rocket comes with a 'nozzle' piece that simply holds the engine in place. We lost ours after the second launch. It popped off at some point in the flight and we couldn't locate it in the field of grass. This piece should probably be painted bright orange if you want to find it again. It's not a necessity for the rocket, though. For a proper kit, this should have included some engines, igniters, and wadding, but for $20, I have no complaints about that. The worst part is the launch controller. The plastic fins and bottom rocket assembly is very good, especially for beginners. This is important because if the fins aren't straight, your rocket won't fly straight. We used the Estes fin guide product when building the rocket. We used a level for the launch pad and metal guide to make sure the rocket would point straight up. The A8 engines gave us about 200 feet, which was a nice surprise for my son. He wasn't expecting it to go that high.

I got two of these puppies along with Estes A8-3 Model Rocket Engine Pack (which come with wadding too) They are somewhat easy to assemble, but you have to glue most of the pieces and you need some patience - I know you or your kids want to launch it immediately, but better off waiting for all the glue (which you'll need to buy separately) to dry (I used some plastic glue and some carpenter glue). If you are the clumsy type - I recommend thinking twice before buying this. BUT - they fly great! Not bad at all with the A8 engines as well. Will probably try more powerful ones in the future, but the A8 are not bad. We had a fairly strong wind when we launched, but it was not a major issue for these rockets. I looked at most of the rockets on Amazon before buying these - if you are a beginner just like us(these were our first rockets) buy these ones. Also, they come with a launch pad, so given the low price, it is the perfect recipe to avoid a civil war between my 5 and 3 year old to decide who gets to send them into space, or onto the moon, or Mars, or to meet the aliens, or... that's it because we used all our engines. Time to get more.