LEGO 42099 Technic Control+ 4x4 X-treme Off-Roader Truck, App Controlled Construction Set, Interactive Motors and Bluetooth Connectivity

Well designed, the 6x Duracell AA batteries lasted a long time. Originally it moved at a moderate speed, it could climb over small objects and climb and incline of about 35 degrees. We easily changed the gearing which wasn’t in the design but didn’t need any additional parts. This slowed the movement but made it possible to drive over much larger objects and climb over 45 degree inclines.

Bluetooth at long last comes to Lego technic, and as noted this set needs to be controlled by a tablet or mobile phone after downloading the iOS or Android app. This works fine and as well as forward/backward/steering motion the apps lets you know the angle of the vehicle and speed using the built in gyroscopes and accelerometer's, with several courses to test your driving skills! All this technology is included within the new battery box or control+ hub, together with the two new large motor 3's and one new medium motor 2 (for steering) is the main cost in this relatively pricey toy (with less than 1000 pieces). As noted elsewhere these are all incompatible with the established technic power functions, so best to view as a half-way house between these and mind storms. The question is does Lego need a 3rd motor format? Possibly, as power functions are rather basic and mindstorms too expensive, mainly because of the programmable controller which is no longer needed with a tablet running an app or ad-hoc scratch. So power up/control+ (LPF2) appears to be a decision to allow the motor to be more interactive with feedback (hence the wider cable with extra coppers wires). In this example, the medium motor can relay back how many times it has rotated so can be set to automatically stop, doing away with the need for an expensive server motor when steering. Potentially, there is scope for future expansion for the larger driving motors to be more interactive, depending on what the vehicle encounters, when tired up with say the boost/Wedo2 (LPF2) colour and distance sensor part 88007, e.g. reverse and turn when encounter a dark wall, but currently this would need ad-hoc coding in scratch with boost/Wedo2 add-ons modules (examples available on line) until the official app is expanded and made more generic. Overall, as well as a fun car to drive the main control+ component appears to have lots of future potential with the new motors, which are not available in any other current set. Like all new technology, may wish to wait until the price falls and also to give a chance for all the creative people to share their ideas on-line and in books. Only criticism is why there are now so many different shaped and sized bluetooth hubs for power up/boost?

My grandsons love it

Before purchasing I read the reviews about changing the gearing to reduce speed but increase the ability to climb obstacles. I went as far as purchasing extra gears to take this to the extreme.However, after building it is apparent the model is not exactly speedy to begin with. In fact its so sedate I cannot bring myself to alter the gearing which would reduce the "speed" significantly.My Ipad connected and paired seamlessly and a Lego firmware update caused no dramas.There were also no missing pieces which was a first for me.So overall a great purchase but don't expect to terrorise your pets with it, unless you own a tortoise.

Lots of fun to build and use, and if you swap the gearing then the climbing ability is improved (search for lego 4x4 crawler upgrade and the 5 minute swap video). The build is very robust and I have used it over various materials. The only annoyance is the app as to swap between the two steering styles you have to swipe right or left, and this is very easily done by accident. Unfortunately, this means that you can be midway through a turn and the app will swap the screen and you have to swap back. This doesn't sound much of a problem, but I found it happened so frequently it was constantly having to stop and switch modes again. If you can get over this then it is lots of fun.

Yep, expensive... Until you build it. I justified the purchase because I wanted the motors for other projects and this seemed economical with bonus lego. As a kit, it's (as usual) brilliant. Haven't road tested extensively but pleased so far. There have been negative views about performance but there is a great vid on YouTube that suggests various gear wheel changes to improve this.Planning on fitting a lighting loom as I think it deserves it.

This is an excellent extreme of road truck it took me two days to put it together I spent 8 hours finishing it on the second day it works well with the control plus app well made pleased with it.

Great model - I have changed the gearing as per the YouTube video to make it a super good crawler. With the upgraded gearing it will climb very well but is half the pace. All in all a very good model - especially when I bought it at £133 on offer.