MYSTERIOUS GYROSCOPIC TOP

Mysterious Gyroscopic Top, retail $9.95 (www.whatonearthcatalog.com...)
Manufactured by (Unknown) for Westminster
Last updated 02-03-08




This is a fun electronic top that produces both multicolored lights *AND* space-type sounds. Once the motor spins up, the top continues to spin (on a hard surface) until either you pick it up or until the batteries poop out.

The lights consist of five 3mm LEDs inside, which don't just stay on; they flicker in a pseudo-random fashion that give you a little light show whenever you use the top.


SIZE



The top comes with batteries already installed, so it is ready to go right out of the package.

Firmly press & release the small cream-colored button on the underside of the unit, hold it by the edges of the milky white upper surface long enough to allow the motor to spin up, and then gently place it on a hard surface such as a hardwood, linoleum, or concrete floor - grey side down.

When you're finished, pick the unit up, then firmly press & release the same button again to turn it off.



The battery changing procedure is a bit complex, but there is a method to this madness.

Start by holding the top horizontally (so its top & bottom aim off to the sides) by the edges of its milky white upper surface in one hand, and hook the T-shaped seperator tool into the metal "button" at the center of the grey portion with the other, and firmly but gently pull the two halves straight apart.


This shows you how to use the included seperator tool for battery changes.

In the grey bottom section, there are two bars that hold the cells firmly in place. Unscrew & remove the screws from these bars with a small phillips screwdriver, and remove the bars themselves.
Set them aside; do not dispose of them in the garbage can or by flushing.


This shows you the bars that hold the batteries in place.

Remove the three used AAA cells from the compartments, and dispose of or recycle them as you see fit.

Insert three new AAA cells in their chambers, orienting them so that their flat-ends (-) negatives face the springs for them in each chamber.

Reattach the two battery retainer bars (orienting them as shown in the photograph directly above), fastening them with the screws you removed earlier.

Once again, hold the two halves of the top horizontally by the edges, insert the end of the motor shaft into the hole for it in the inside surface of the milky part, and gently press the two halves together.



This is a top meant to be used in a dry area, not a flashlight meant to be carried around, thrashed, trashed, and abused, so I won't try to drown it in the toilet tank, bash it against a steel rod or against the concrete floor of a patio, let my housemate's citty kats go to the litterbox on it, run over it with the knobby tires (or "tyres") of a 450lb Celebrity motorised wheelchair, stomp on it, use a large claw hammer in order to smash it open to check it for candiosity, fire it from the cannonada (I guess I've been watching the TV program "Viva Piņata" too much again - candiosity is usually checked with a laser-type device on a platform with a large readout, with a handheld wand that Langston Lickatoad uses, or with a pack-of-cards-sized device that Fergy Fudgehog uses; and the cannonada is only used to shoot piņatas to piņata parties away from picturesque Piņata Island), send it to the Daystrom Institute for additional analysis, or perform other indecencies on it that a flashlight might have to have performed on it. So this section of the web page will be significantly more bare than this section of the web page on a page about a flashlight.





Photograph of the product, illuminated of course.



Another photograph of the product, spinning on the bathroom floor.

WMP movie (.avi extension) showing the product .
This clip is approximately 1.65 megabytes (1,696,258 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than six minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.
I cannot provide it in other formats, so please do not ask.

That sound you hear is actually produced by the top while it is activated.





TEST NOTES:
Test unit was ordered on the What On Earth website on 01-29-08, and was received on the afternoon of 02-02-08.

Product was made in China.
A product's country of origin really does matter to some people, which is why I published it on this web page.


UPDATE: 00-00-00



PROS:



CONS:



    MANUFACTURER: Unknown
    PRODUCT TYPE: Self-spinning top w/lights & sound
    LAMP TYPE: 3mm LED
    No. OF LAMPS: 5 (2 red, 1 yellow, 1 green, 1 blue)
    BEAM TYPE: N/A
    SWITCH TYPE: Pushbutton on/off on product's underside
    CASE MATERIAL: Plastic
    BEZEL: N/A
    BATTERY: 3xAAA cells
    CURRENT CONSUMPTION: Unknown/unable to measure
    WATER RESISTANT: Light splatter-resistance at maximum
    SUBMERSIBLE: No
    ACCESSORIES: 3xAAA cells, seperator tool
    WARRANTY: Unknown/not stated

    PRODUCT RATING:

    Star Rating





Mysterious Gyroscopic Top * www.whatonearthcatalog.com...






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