The Original Rocket Bottle Launcher Kit - Launches Soda Bottles 100 Ft Up in The Air - Fun Educational STEM Gift Idea for Kids & Teens - Great Science Toy & Outdoor Activity for Family

It gets really hot in Arizona and I love holding onto this bottle, rocket launcher with my own hands and being sprayed with the water as it shoots very high. My family loves running around the yard trying to catch the bottle as it comes tumbling down from the sky. Always a hit at a party! We’ve been using them for years and it’s amazing how rugged they are! Highly recommended.

I got this for my granddaughter and I to play with in my front yard. A large open area is recommended, as the two-liter soda bottle rockets can travel high and far, but such an area is not readily available in our situation, so it's the front yard for us. This launcher is a bit expensive compared to some others, but it's the best one I could find for our purpose. With this launcher, you don't need fins on the rocket to launch it, and the rocket climbs impressively high without fins. After a few launches the rocket invariably lands in an unreachable and hidden position in a large bush. Replacing only the lost soda bottle is much cheaper than replacing a lost soda bottle and a lost set of fins. Also with this launcher you have complete control over when the rocket launches, with a gentle pull on the cord.

A couple of very small broken plastic pieces in the parts bag. Looks like 2 of eight clips from INSIDE the leg attachment. How would inside clips get broken?. I am gluing the legs so I am not returning it as it will be solid. One O ring was loose on the parts bag. 2 were in a small bag also in the parts bag. Directions could be a bit better as with most things- it points to the rocket base and says O-Ring. A wasted launch later I realized it needs TWO o rings. The one that was already on the launcher and one of the 3 that were supplied. Once assembled properly it really really launched WELL. Worked great. The nosecone that is supposed to hold the parachute ACCESSORY absolutely topples off at the slightest provacation. I think we can get enough landings without breaking the legs or design a better cone. So far so good. kids love it

This would have been season 6 for our Aquapod. I purchased it in 2015 and we've launched it hundreds of times each year. We've definitely surpassed 1000 launches and I wouldn't be surprised if we have over 2000 launches on this bad boy.But alas, all good things come to an end and sadly, this year its plastic frame succumbed to fatigue as can be seen in the accompanying photo. It's understandably the weak spot. I see other reviews where people are timidly pumping it up to 40 psi, etc. As Brian Wilson famously said once, "Not my boys!" We pump it until the pressure relief valve kicks in. Max pressure! Is a design revision in order? Maybe. Maybe the mold could be augmented along the edge where ours eventually cracked.But we extracted full value and then some from the Aquapod. As a father, I've been to every one of my 6 kids' elementary school classes demonstrating Newton's Laws with the Aquapod. For the older classes, I made up an experimental project where we varied the volume of water in the bottle and the pressure and estimate height with a few kids spotting the angle when the bottles reached apogee. You could spend a solid week teaching with the Aquapod.Without fail, when we break out the Aquapod a crowd gathers. It doesn't matter the age, the Aquapod sucks people in like flies to excrement. My kids got such a kick out of our 85 yo retired engineer neighbor acting like he was 12 playing with this thing.Needless to say, I'm writing this review because I came back to buy it again. Can't wait for the new one to arrive in the mail!

Best part was making kids figure out the best ratio of water to air in the bottle and how much to pump the air up. They figured it out quickly. Adults took a turn too.

The kiddos can not get enough of the Aquapod. Only used it a couple of different times however many lift-offs each time. Fun for the adults to try to catch the bottle with the kids as well. We have yet to catch one however keep getting very close! A great addition to outdoor activities. The price tag is a bit steep however keep in mind that there isn't anything other than a 2 liter bottle that you need to purchase for ongoing fun. I use a small air compressor tank that I fill with air and have not yet run the small tank empty. Only takes 50psi to launch and the unit has a feature that expels any additional air you might pump into it so that it won't overfill. Nice feature to keep people from breaking it. There is also a metal stake that comes with the unit. The stake goes over the Aquapod to secure it to the ground so that the person pulling the trigger string can't accidentally pull the unit over and shoot a bottle at themselves or someone else. I also highly recommend an adult be present as it does lift off with a good amount of force. It could certainly hurt someone if used improperly.

Bought this for the boys for Christmas and left it in the box waiting till warmer weather to use it. We were excited to test it out, but after multiple attempts to pressure it up, found that although the pressure relief valve was made out of brass in the handle, it was screwed into super cheap plastic that was cracked, rendering the product completely unusable. I used some epoxy/resin and tried to plug and repair it, but after two launches it was broken again and due to the no returns after 30 days of purchase policy, $40 went down the drain. Super disappointed and wouldn’t recommend ordering, especially if you intend on waiting to use it longer than 30 days.