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Dream Cheeky USB Missile Launcher
Testing:
Upon running the software, you get some nice intro sound effects. Whenever you move the launcher using the software, you get some nifty heavy machinery sound effects. As you move the launcher around, you can keep track of where the launcher is pointing in relationship to its maximum travel. In other words, the little red dot tells you where the launcher is pointing. When the dot hits the end of the map, you can travel no further in that direction. After moving the launcher around a lot, sometimes the tracking ability is a little off and you have to reset the position of the launcher simply by clicking the "RE-SET" button. After the "RE-SET" button is pressed, the dot returns to the very center of the map. There is also the ability to turn off the sound, if you want to be a little more sneaky, or you just get annoyed by the sound.
The software isn't perfect, but it works. You cannot move the launcher in more than one direction at a time i.e. diagonally, but this doesn't seem to matter much, half of the fun is aiming it around. On the other hand, the software allows you to move the red dot diagonally, causing it to not accurately represent its position. A neat feature of the software is its stealthy "minimize to taskbar" approach, so your cube-mate never really knows when you're going to fire at him! While moving the launcher around, you can hear quite a bit of noise from the motors and gears inside, but this definitely adds to the cool factor for me. Once you finally press the fire button (the big red dot located in the center of the directional arrows) or press the spacebar, you warn everyone around with an alarm (sound effect) and you hear the air plunger inside the launcher get pulled back by the motor. Once the motor pulls the air plunger all the way back, it releases it and fires the dart quite rapidly towards your unexpecting target, this is accompanied by a wonderful explosion sound effect! I think I screeched like a child during Christmas morning when I first fired this device, I had to apologize to my co-workers as they gave me quite a strange look.
Performance and Analysis:
On to the performance of the device. At a normal elevation (the dot in the center) and from an average height table, I was able to get the device to consistently fire a dart between 15 and 17 feet. It is possible to push the range to 25 feet and maybe beyond by raising the elevation angle. Shooting at a wall about 6 feet away, I was able to group all three shots in a circle of under 12 inches in diameter. The device has a pretty rapid rate of fire, as I was able to fire off all 3 rounds from the USB Missile Launcher in about 14 seconds! This leaves about 4.5 seconds per shot. You may think this is a long time, but I found that my targets sat there for the 4.5 seconds just trying to figure out what the heck this thing was, then blammo, it was too late! I thought it was really funny that I was able to hit 4 different people as they just stood there staring at this thing! It is quite loud, so once you hit them, they know what to expect. A downside to the launcher is that once you hit the fire button, you can't adjust the aim.
Conclusion:
I had a great deal of fun at work hitting all kinds of people with this thing, and I was definitely envied by those who didn't have one. I have a feeling that over the next few weeks, some people will go and purchase covert office weapons. I also think this would be hilarious to play with around animals. I can definitely see an animal running after the darts. You may want to keep them in a different room as you only get three darts. All of this fun can be had for $29.99 from X-tremegeek.com. Anyone who works in an office where some antics are allowed should definitely invest in one of these. There are many different models available as well. A new model was released recently that comes with an attached webcam! If you don't get one now, someone may beat you to it!
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