EXCLUSIVE - Toy of The Year Technology Category Review and Giveaway!

If the toys had an Oscars, the Toy of the Year Awards would be it. Personally, I think it would be great to have over an hour of the coolest toys and their developers taking the stage to win a golden trophy. Dress it up with some celebrity musical acts singing the theme songs from each of the nominee’s commercials and you have some quality entertainment right there.

Instead of a television special, we do have the ability to vote for our favorites online and in addition, GeekMom is giving away products from some of the nominees from the technology category!

So without further adieu, the nominees for Technology Toy of the Year are…

Air Hogs Connect: Mission Drone by Spin Master Ltd.
CodeGamer by Thames & Kosmos
LUMI by WowWee USA, Inc.
MOTA JETJAT Ultra Streaming Nano Drone by MOTA
Sky Viper Hover Racer by SkyRocket Toys
Wonder Workshop’s Dash & Dot by Wonder Workshop
Zoomer Chimp by Spin Master Ltd.

My family had a chance to try each of these out and our personal favorites were easy to figure out early on.

The Air Hogs Connect: Mission Drone by Air Hogs ($150) – Fly virtual missions in an augmented world. This was my personal favorite because of how easy it was to fly. My son enjoyed the AR aspect of it and even got off his computer to fly a few missions himself.

Best feature: AR app is a lot of fun.
Worst feature: Battery life needs improvement.

MOTA JETJAT Ultra Streaming Nano Drone by MOTA ($120) – Simply put, a palm-sized drone with a camera. This would have been my first favorite if the batteries lasted longer than 5-minutes. By the time I figured out how to fly it I had to stick it back on the charger. The video quality of my first crash wasn’t bad and is now on my iPhone for everyone to see why I’ll never pilot an aircraft.

Best feature: Video quality.
Worst feature: Battery life could use some work.

Sky Viper Hover Racer by Sky Rocket Toys ($89)– My 11-year old son actually screamed when I handed him the Sky Viper (apparently, he’s seen a commercial or two about them). The take off on this one is a little hard, but once it’s in the air, my son said it was pretty easy to keep going. Get a couple of these and have a race your buddies.

Best feature: Easy to fly and the battery lasts longer than either the MOTA JETJAT and the Air Hogs Connect.
Worst feature: Takes a total of 11 AA batteries for the drone, remote, and four checkpoint beacons.

Zoomer Chimp by Spin Master ($78) – This is the next animal to get the robotic treatment by Spin Master. My son has had all the Zoomers up till now and has enjoyed each of them. Chimp is a step up from the previous Zoomers with more tricks for your buck and the longest battery life of the toys on this list so far.

Best feature: A step up from the past Zoomer line.
Worst feature: Nothing.

Wonder Workshop’s Dash & Dot by Wonder Workshop ($280) – Dash and Dot are for the younger programmer in your life. The toy itself feels like it costs what you paid for and with a few extra accessories, you can get the Dash and Dot to do physical tasks which is pretty cool.

Best feature: Can be programmed to do physical tasks.
Worst feature: Pricy

CodeGamer by Thames & Kosmos ($150) – Build your controller, install the app, and start your experimenting! This is great for programmers 10-years and up (just make sure they’re careful with the pins when putting together the controller).

Best feature: Concept is cool.
Worst feature: Components feel cheaply made.

Now that I’ve told you our favorites from the technology category, it’s your time to go and vote over at the Toy Of The Year Awards! For every vote you cast, you get entered to win the nominees for that category.

On top of the chance to win by voting in the toy awards, you also get a chance to win a select number of the toys mentioned in today’s post just by filling out our giveaway form!

One lucky reader will win a technology nominees prize pack which includes: