The Tyco Mini Hopper II (or Mini Hopper 2) is a radio controlled car manufactured by Taiyo (Japan) and released in the United States, United Kingdom, and other markets worldwide in 1988.
It is the successor to the 1988 Tyco Mini Hopper released in the same year, as Tyco sought to capitalize and catch-up on the substancial backlog of products from their key supplier, Taiyo (Japan) where the same models sold as the 1987 Taiyo Mini Hopper 2 and original 1986 Taiyo Mini Hopper, released the same year as a companion to the Jet Hopper which began the whole craze.
Features
A revised design from the original, the Mini Hopper’s most striking feature is its front suspension arms that allowed such a small R/C for the first time to have all-round shock absorbers, more suitable to an off-road vehicle than its predeccessors front wishbone suspension.
Remember, this is at a time when most competitors full size products didn’t have any suspension at all!
Other improvements include knobby off-road front tires, and a strengthened front end and steering assembly.
As a downgrade, unfortunately the controller is a cheaper simplified version, unlike the Taiyo version which retains the original controller, however it’s sufficient for the purpose.
Performance
With just 4xAA batteries, performance is reasonable for a small RC, and the suspension upgrades increase the fun outdoors, or indoors over some mild jumps, though if you’re looking for performance we’d definitely recommend one of Taiyo / Tyco’s 9.6V versions, preferably a Twin Turbo
Recommendation
The Mini Hopper range make excellent gifts, and entry-level collectors items due to their comparatively low price and high build quality which suffers no common faults or material degradation issues like other models of a similar age. The easy to drive nature of the cars also makes them suitable for children.
Collecting Mini Hoppers in particular is common amongst Taiyo / Tyco enthusiasts, as there are so many different designs available. Buy one, and you may find yourself buying another, and another!
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