Monday, September 17, 2012

Review - Nerf FireVision Football


 
I received a free Nerf FireVision Football and Frames from BzzAgent.com - of which I am a member- to use and review. Nerf FireVision is intended for ages 6 and up.
 
(For the purposes of this post and for their online anonymity I will refer to my neice and nephew by nicknames. Bubbie age 10 and Kettle Corn age 8 - she chose that one herself. They aren't really ready for fame yet.)
 
The football is a good quality, well made product like we'd expect from Nerf. The Frames are hard plastic with two led lights and fit comfortably above your eyes. 

When we tried on the Frames in a slightly darkened room, the silver "reflective material" lit up in the color the of the Frames. It was pretty neat. Nerf calls this Microprism Technology.

 
When playing with the FireVision Football, only players wearing the FireVision Frames will be able to see the light effect. This Football set comes with two frames and you can purchase additional frames separately for around $5.99 each. Frames come in red and green.
  


Bubbie and Kettle Corn aren't the most athletic kids on the planet and to top it off it's been well over 100 degrees everyday, so it took a bit of convincing from me to get them outside to try the Nerf FireVision. The kids played outside at about 4 pm. It was still sunny out and they played in the shade. Neither of them could see light reflecting on the ball so it needs to be a bit darker in order to light up the ball outdoors.

 
Once they started playing catch - and I use the word loosely because neither of them actually caught the ball - they had fun with it.

 
 Bubbie wears glasses and he had no trouble wearing the FireVision Frames over his glasses.
 
Kettle Corn decided to go with the "if you aren't very good, scare your opponent into thinking you are" approach to the game.
 
 
The kids had fun with it and I suspect they would have even more fun at night when the light effect comes into play. And if it was Autumn and not as hot outside.
 
The Nerf FireVision Football is about $19.99(SRP) and comes with two FireVision Frames. The frames use 8 A76 alkaline batteries which are included. Nerf FireVision also comes in Nerfoop with one pair of FireVision Frames $14.99 (Suggested Retail Price) and Hyperbounce Ball with one pair of FireVision Frames $9.99 (SRP).
 
 
Nerf FireVision is available at Amazon.com, Target.com, Walmart.com Toysrus.com and more.
 


Disclaimer, full disclosure and whatnot: I received this product free in order to use it, review it and spread the word about it. The above opinions are honest and they are my own.

Friday, September 14, 2012

"The Nothing Grows Stronger"











Fionabelle does her best impersonation of Gmork from The NeverEnding Story. Luckily, she didn't ask me to play Atreyu.
 

Monday, September 10, 2012

I Review Unreal Candy, Really

There was also Unreal 41 but it was eaten before I remembered to take a picture


For the Unreal Candy BzzCampaign I received an envelope in the mail from BzzAgent that contained one coupon for a free Unreal™ candy and five buy one get one free coupons. The thing about the Unreal candy company is that they wanted to create a candy that is made without all the preservatives and extra ingredients that make junk food bad for you and still let it be tasty and affordable. Unreal candies do not contain hydrogenated oils, corn syrup, artificial colors or preservatives, or GMOs. If you have no idea what the Hades a GMO is like I didn't, it stands for Genetically Modified Organisms: plants and animals that are created by gene splicing, merging of DNA or genetic engineering. And if you already knew that well, here's a gold star for your good noodle chart. I heard about GMOs when Emma tried to get the cafeteria to stop serving scorpion/tomato hybrids at Degrassi... Not that I watch that show or anything.
So, back to the review. "Junk food, UNJUNKED™," if you will.








I found a display of Unreal Candy in the front of a CVS store. CVS had 5 types of Unreal candy; Unreal 5 (chocolate caramel nougat bar), Unreal 8 (chocolate caramel peanut nougat bar), Unreal 77 (chocolate peanut butter cups), Unreal 54 (candy coated chocolates with peanuts), and Unreal 41 (candy coated chocolates).
Now I've got Candy Rain by Soul for Real stuck in my head and you've probably no idea what that is. (a bit of history lesson if your interested Candy Rain) Right, moving on.

I'm going to go on record as not being a fan of the Unreal candy names. Maybe over time I might remember the numbers and who's who and stop referring to them as "the one that's like M&Ms," and "the Snickers type," but I doubt it.

I bought all five types but unfortunately, I only got to try Unreal 8 and Unreal 77 and one piece of Unreal 41. Because I was feeling generous or my family's "oh, good for you" glances felt more like "you're really not going to offer us any" stares.

Here is what I thought of the candy.
Unreal 41: It has a really light texture. Not as hearty as an M&M. It was sweet enough. It had good chocolate taste and a crunchy candy shell. I thought it was pretty good and wouldn't mind having them again.
Unreal 8: It is not sweet enough for me. The chocolate tastes a bit like dark chocolate. (I don't fancy dark chocolate.) The filling is tasty especially the peanuts which comprise most of the candy bar. The caramel and nougat layers are quite thin. It's not bad but there are better options available i.e. Snicker's.
Unreal 77: The chocolate is not as sweet as a Reese's Peanut Butter cup but the peanut butter in Unreal 77 makes up for it with its sweetness. This makes the overall sweetness just about right. (I need a thesaurus.) I like Unreal 77 it tastes good, has a good texture and I would buy it again.

Honest opinions of Unreal candy from other people in my house.

Unreal 41: It tastes like dark chocolate and almost like coffee. It's okay but not as good as M&Ms.
Unreal 5: It is chewy all the way through.  There is not enough contrast of texture. The caramel is gummy or chewy and gets stuck in my teeth. There is a slight after taste of dark chocolate. It's okay if you don't like crunch.
Unreal 54: Not quite sweet enough but tastes pretty good. The peanut is pretty big and adds a nice crunch.

The consensus: I think my family would buy and eat some varieties of Unreal candy again but it wouldn't replace our favorite brands.

You can find nutrition information on each candy and some background about how this company and candy came to be on their website: getunreal.com
You can find the candy itself in CVS. I also hear it is available in Kroger, Walgreens, Food4Less, Fred Meyer, Michael's, Ralph's, Riteaid and Staples.
Beginning this summer more than 30,000 stores around the country, will also carry UNREAL™
candy.



Full disclosure, disclaimer and all that good stuff: I am a BzzAgent and Bzzagent sends me free samples and coupons of products in order for me to review them and share my honest opinions.

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