Air Swimmers Inflatable Flying Shark

I got this for my college-age daughter's birthday. Everyone really loved it! It is an eye-catcher, both because of the large size, and because it moves with a realistic(ish) side-to-side motion. If you want to make a "splash" (bwa-ha-ha), this is a great way to do it. We had a surprise get-together after her calc final in the lobby of her dorms, and, and this shark stole the show. Word about it spread quickly through the dorms, and people were coming down to see it and take videos. The most important part of course is that it was a huge surprise, and she really loved it! A couple of notes: watch the youtube videos before you try to put it together, because it would be easy to make a mistake otherwise. The sticky tape that they give you is not labeled, so you need to be careful to use the right pieces to attach the different parts. You DO need 2 people to put it together, but although I'm not very good at things like this, my friend and I were able to do it pretty easily in about 20 minutes total after watching the videos. It has to be inflated before you put it together. Some extra shipping tape is not a bad idea, as they don't give you any extra sticky tape pieces (which would be nice). Also, the small door where you add the putty to balance it in the air is very flimsy- we had to use a pair of tweezers (forceps) to retrieve it from the housing a couple of times. Note that it is really only crudely remote-controlled. There is a small housing that you attach to the bottom of the shark. This housing holds the putty that is used as "ballast" to keep the balloon at a height within the range of the remote control. It is also plugged into the tail fin, and operates the side-to-side motion of the tail fin to make the shark "swim". It also slides along a plastic track that you attach to the balloon, causing it to dive or climb as it slides. The remote has a button that controls its position along the track- when you press the "dive" button, the housing slides along the track toward the sharks nose, and it moves downward; when you press "climb", it moves the other way, and the shark climbs. It makes some noise as it moves, but people seem to find this more funny than distracting. The fins are pretty flimsy, and the dorsal and tail fins aren't very realistic, but the overall effect works really well. The tail fin is a separate piece that attaches to the balloon with rubber bands that slide onto hooks (attached when you put it together). There is a gap between the base plate of the dorsal fin that sits against the sharks rear end and the fin itself, and this is what looks least realistic, but it allows the swimming motion, and its easy to ignore the imperfections of this fun balloon. Its a mylar-like material, and very light, so I would be really careful taking it outside, or using it near sharp things or ceiling fans. We move it with a big bag around it and a weight tied to it to be safe. Its well over 4 feet long, so you need some room to maneuver it. Its takes a bit of practice to learn to maneuver it, but once you do, it really is great fun!

Absolutely terrible design! It works okay for the first day, after which parts start falling off and the ones that are attached to special rubber bands (the tail section) actually go flying across the room somewhere and then the hunt is on.... Because your finished if you can't find them, as they don't give you any extra "hooks" in the package! The main problem lies within the design.... EVERYTHING is held onto the balloon with very NOT so sticky double sided tape, and then what appears to be scotch tape strips over top to double up the holding power (NOT).... so picture this for an evening of fun.... You blow this thing up with helium, after which you have to stick a dozen or so of these items into a balloon... That constantly wants to "Get Away" from you (it's a chore even with someone helping).... Then you have to go back to all of those items and peel and stick flimsy scotch tape (which also wants to fight with you) over the top of them, which at least a couple have already fallen off of the balloon! So once you get this all done and your ready to fly this thing, you realize that it needs more helium (even though it looks like it is going to burst) so you fight with the tail section and you wrestle more helium into the a## of this thing! OK so now the grand kids have gone to bed disappointed because you didn't realize that this was going to be an all day "project" to put these things together (I bought two of them :-( ), so finally Grandpa fly's it around and tweaks the weight with the provided puddy and everything is working "kinda" OK, the controls are clunky to get the hang of, and you always have to be within 5 feet of it for it to get a signal..... So it's bed time for ole grandpa... The kids will be really excited to play with them in the morning....... So here we are.... The next day, I get the kids all reved up at breakfast, you know, for the big fish debut....I go into the spare room where they are "Docked", thinking I'm going to fly it over there heads at breakfast AND....WAH....Wah....waaaaah....NO JOY! The damned little sticky hooks that hold the tails on had popped off, and went to play hide-in-go-seek, so here we are again, chasing parts down and " re-sticking" them to the balloon (another two hours of my life I will never get back)! The long and short of it.... Until they make all of these taped on thingies PART OF THE BALLON.... It is just not worth the aggravation! Once you get it together and flying, it is actually pretty cool, but expect to go thru the same aggravation every couple of days of re-sticking the thingies on, AND buy stock in batteries and helium.... Because these things eat BOTH! If you don't head my warning and stay away from this evil torture device..... Then you get what you deserve! Good Luck!