We went to Droid Depot first week of Feb. DS10 built an R2 unit and DS7 built a BB unit. DS7 is bummed about his BB. Pretty difficult to control, excessively wobbly on smooth surfaces (tile floor in house), head falls off easily (including while wobbling on said smooth surfaces), and slower than the R2 unit. I doubt these are specific to his droid. To top it off, he has to open him up to turn it back on or off (if don’t want to wait for automatic sleep mode). He wishes he would’ve made an R2.
3 Likes
Agree with all of this! I built the BB unit for myself - and while it’s definitely cool looking, I HATE that I have to take it apart to reset it. And they don’t even tell you that until after you’ve built it!. And for what it’s worth, I find it difficult to control - the forward/back motions don’t work all that great. My husband’s R2 model is way better.
All valid concerns, but as a counterpoint, my DS7 adores his BB unit. It’s very cute and “cooler” than the R2 unit for the younger generation. It drives better on carpet but to be honest he doesn’t use it that much. More like a stuffed animal (i.e., decorative) than a toy to play with.
4 Likes
Cosign on everything @Jeff_AZ said, my kids both have the BB’s and really like them. It’s totally true that they don’t handle well on hard surfaces, much better on carpet.
For anyone considering building them, I think it’s worth watching a few youtube videos on both droids to get an idea how they operate and move and what you can expect from them.
1 Like
Thanks for the counterpoints. BBs are definitely cuter and probably the droid of choice for the younger fans. Honestly, my DS7 would probably be happy with it if he wasn’t always directly comparing to older brother’s R2. I agree that it’s a good idea to watch a few videos and see what you’re getting and what works for you.
2 Likes
I wonder if there is something with the droid?
The droid does wobble for sure, but your comment about the head falling off made me wonder if something else is up. The head should not wobble differently then the body. There are 4 magnets used to attach the head, and if all 4 are correctly aligned, the head stays pretty solid to the body. ( I was worried reading this and was glad when I got home that everything worked well, I tried on ceramic tile, carpet, hardwood.)
Since you already own it, check the head itself. When putting it together, both people on my right and left screwed the head together, but had it flopping around on the droid when they went to test. The CM took off the head and pressed the pieces together with her hands and they made a loud snap as the pieces actually fit went together how they were suppose to. Both times that fixed the head movement.
1 Like
Also with the magnet alignment as I’ve been messing around with it. If you can lightly press the side of the head and it has any movement, it’s slightly off in alignment.
2 Likes
Thanks - I hope this helps us. My DD made a BB style droid, and it has not been working well on hardwood floors at ALL. As soon as it stops moving, it rocks back and forth like a pendulum for 15-30 seconds every time. I’ll try the head fix tonight.
Agree that the head shouldn’t fall off too much. It does fall off in some circumstances, but not just while driving around normally.
My comment was more for the head falling off. Mine still for sure rocks like a pendulum. If you spin the head after you stop, you can reduce how much that happens.
1 Like
Thanks for tips. Son had problems with the head in the testing area after building it and we went back into Droid Depot where CM showed us how to align the magnets. I’ve been helping him do it since but doesn’t solve the underlying frustrations. The head doesn’t wobble on its own, but it does seem to fall off fairly easy, even from the force of lots of rocking back and forth on the tile floor. I will take a look at head construction to see if we can improve anything.
1 Like
The wild back and forth rocking seems typical on hard surfaces, but as mentioned the head falling off sounds unusual. Even if I try to make ours swing as much as possible (almost going from ground to ground, looks crazy) the head still hangs on. Only time it falls is when you hit something.
I noticed something last night messing around with my droid. I noticed massive pendulums like motions where while driving it, the head was not staying near the top. When I stopped, the head was not directly at the top. When I made the body spin, the head would wobble the reseat itself; and the forward motion was fine.
This behavior wasn’t happening before and I was wondering why. I noticed the body of my droid (while body, orange details) was starting to look orange. I took the head off and looked at those plastic spacers that let the head move freely and noticed they were coated with orange powder that scraped off. I cleaned this off and noticed I could not make the same motions of the head wobbling off alignment.
Messed around with it for 20 or so mins, then the head became wobbly. Checked the head, orange powder all over those plastic circles. I couldn’t see scrapes anywhere on the droid where the paint could be coming from, until I looked where the two half’s meet. There is a lip on it where paint is starting to show signs of being scrapped off. The droid white body is starting to take on a yellowed appearance from this being smeared on it.
Those plastic spacers also are starting to have gouges in them, so I am unsure what the design flaw is exactly causing this… but if I didn’t have a white droid body, I might not of noticed this.
1 Like