Amazon, eBay.
Overall Rating:
(Brick quality is improved, instruction manual needs improvement, had two bricks that did not light up that were supposed to)
I had previously posted an
The most noticeable difference is that the bricks used to build the ship are now all tinted with colors. (The light bricks themselves remain clear but with colored LED lights.) Each piece is one color. For example all the 2x4 plates are red and all the 2x10 plates are green. Some parts share the same colors but no single part seems to come in more than one color. I would have to say these colors seem chosen at random, they don't appear to have any significance in the space ship.
The next thing you will notice when building is that the bricks are significantly tighter with each other than they used to be. In fact some bricks were a little too tight and took what I felt was excessive pressure to snap them together. I was afraid they would crack, but to their credit, none did.
When I completed the model and hooked it up to power I did notice two of the light-up bricks were not working, however a third brick further down the chain did light, so power was flowing. It would seem there is a loose connection somewhere as I was evetually able to get some light out of one of the bad light elements but not the other. Luckily Laser Pegs includes a paper on how to get help/replacements if needed.
The tinted and more tight fitting bricks make for a better looking and stronger final product which you can disconnect from the power base and swoosh around.
The light bricks themselves look and work just as they did in the original model so be sure to see the old review for more info on that.
The box itself looks better, I think, with the black background. The image on it now accurately represents the final product which was a big improvement.
The one I received still had a single sheet of black and white instructions on both sides. I'm told the items will soon ship with full color instruction books. That will be another improvement. In the mean time color instructions are available on the website. LaserPegs.com.
When you open the box you will note it's significantly larger than it needs to be. Other than the instructions there are 3 neat bags inside.
The bricks on the left are the LEGO compatible bricks that are used for the details in the ship. The center bag are the clear light "pegs" that push together and form the general skeleton of the ship. Some pegs have typical studs to connect to to the other bricks, some do not. The right bag contains the power base that the pegs connect to for power. The base will require a phillips head screwdriver to open and 3 AA batteries. There is an optional 5V DC input that can be used in place of batteries but that must be purchased separately. The "wire" in the photo is a second option for connecting the final design to the power base but doesn't make much sense in this particular design. However there are instructions for 15 other designs for this same set online.
The build is generally straightforward. The instructions (which are currently a black and white fold out sheet but will soon be a color manual) were easy enough to follow. This is a basic "Studs on top" design akin to LEGO Space designs of the early 90s. I really look forward to future designs as the platform matures. The way the pegs are designed there are great opportunities for designs not possible with other brick systems.
You can see the dark spot where unfortunately the two pegs that didn't light were back to back. Even with the dark spot though this is still a colorful and unique design compared to your typical brick spaceships which will have zero or limited lighting.
Still photos can't do the lighting justice, be sure to check out the video above if you haven't already.
This final picture is a comparison with the older model from the original review.
The bottom line here is the new design is a significant improvement on the old and finally the image on the box now actually resembles the final product which was really my main annoyance with the old version. Some pieces will fit a little tight but they stick together and appear to be strong. However the largest factor on not getting that last star was the fact two of the light up pegs didn't work properly. EVen if they do replace them, which I am sure they will when I contact them, it's never the same when you finish a build only to find pieces broken or missing.
