Air Swimmers are very large radio controlled flying fish. Well actually they are very large fish shaped mylar helium balloons that can be remotely controlled using either an infrared remote control or a radio wave remote depending on which model you buy. Air Swimmers are available in two styles: a remote controlled flying shark and a remote controlled flying clown fish.

An instant hit at Comic Con and voted Best Overall Toy of at the recent Toy of The Year Awards Air Swimmers are taking the world by storm. Ever since some very successful viral videos hit the web, online toy stores selling the Air Swimmers Remote Control Flying Clown Fish and Sharks are popping up all over the place. It appears that many toy stores are stocking up on this toy expecting a massive sale for the holidays. Air Swimmers are currently trending on blogs everywhere. But..  Is it worth your money and is it as awesome as it looks? We decided to dive in with the Air Swimmers and find out.

The facts

It’s a balloon baby yeah. That’s right, the most hyped toy of the year is actually a mylar helium balloon. So you’ll need helium (more on that later). And it can’t land on a cactus or fly in a room with a ceiling fan in case you didn’t know what balloons can and cannot do.

Build Quality

This thing has to be light in order to fly. So components are very light as well. Unlike an r/c helicopter it won’t crash if you hit a wall so that’s a plus. Unfortunately in order to keep everything as light as possible the manufacturer used a rather flimsy tape tab style method to stick all the components onto the balloon. These snap off quite easily, especially when inflating or deflating the mylar balloon which annoyed us quite quickly. We suggest using something like crazy glue to fix this issue if it annoys you as well.

Helium sold separately

Although the Air Swimmers themselves are fairly cheap, the total price you end up paying can be a bit higher than you’d expect. This is because in order to make the toy fly, you’ll need helium. An easy and fairly cheap way to get it filled up is to take it to a local flower shop or dollar store that also carries mylar helium balloons. But because helium molecules are small, they gradually slip through their containers which means you will need to top if off every once in a while or it will gradually deflate. If you don’t want the hassle of taking it to somebody that has helium on tap every once in a while, you can buy a disposable helium container. Some of those cost about the same as an Air Swimmer but don’t forget that the costs of the alternative (trips to the flower shop) will also add up after a while.

What you need to know about helium

Helium is lighter than air. Thus anything filled with helium will float upwards. But most shops don’t sell pure helium so the amount of buoyance you get will depend on the mixture they sell. If you live in a place high up in the mountains, chances are that the thinner air in that area will make the helium less effective. Some people living at 4000ft and higher have reported some problems getting their Air Swimmers to fly.

What you need to know about the viral videos

The Air Swimmers you actually get are slightly different from the ones in the viral videos. We don’t know if the manufacturer switched factories along the way or somebody is selling pretty good knock offs (because we’ve already seen those too), but the actual Air Swimmers have different fins and look slightly less realistic than the awesome fish in the video.

Here’s the ad for the Air Swimmers

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIJINiK9azc

And some Air Swimmers supposedly invading a kids birthday party

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zHqc1RE4hU

And here’s an actual kid operating an actual Air Swimmer. Spot the difference?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Eis5SmkKjM

How it works

The Air Swimmers are operated with a simple infrared or radio remote control (depending on the model) that enables you to swing the tail from left to right and steer it from left to right and move a sall ballast at the belly of the fish forward or backward, which makes the entire thing tilt forward or backward and thus swim up or down. The controls actually work very easily and the toy has pretty good steering. Unfortunately the motors are rather noisy which takes a bit away from the illussion of watching a giant fish.

Air Swimmer or Air Swimmer Extreme?

The Air Swimmers are available in two styles: a cute Clown Fish and an awesome Shark. Each is available in two models: a regular infrared controlled one and a HUGE radio controlled “Extreme” edition. The radio wave remote control of the Extreme Edition is a clear winner. Infrared has much less range and more importantly it needs a constant clear line of sight in order to work. Get the radio controlled model if you can.

Positives

• Looks absolutely awesome
• Extremely easy to fly
• Cute Clown Fish or fearsome Shark style.
• Won’t crash when bumping into stuff (unless it’s a cactus or ceiling fan)
• Everybody will love it. Everybody. Except maybe the cat.
• Shark model won’t eat your kids

Negatives

• Helium required and sold separately. Getting the right helium can be tricky depending where you live. We recommened buying the disposable helium container.
• Will need occasional refill/top off
• Needs a fairly large amount of space
• infrared model has limited range and requires a clear line of sight
• some parts have somewhat flimsy construction and look a bit different from the viral videos
• shark won’t eat your neighbours kids either. We tried.