Up for review today I’ve got something a bit out of the ordinary, but it’s still tech related I think and it’s certainly not what I might consider a toy, but you might. Arctic has sent me over the Land Rider 403 Remote Controlled Leopard Tank and I have to say it’s a just a blast to use. The land Rider 403 comes completely assembled so all you have to do is charge the battery and start driving and shooting. The tank shoots shells by the remote control. The canon can be moved up and down and it’s attached to a turret that can rotate left and right. The Land Rider 403 is much more than a toy, it’s high quality and highly detailed remote control tank that I’m sure you’ll enjoy.

So here’s the box and it’s huge, I didn’t fully realize just how big this tank is until the box arrived. Here’s the box and the box with a blu-ray case next to it for scale.

 

When you open the box you’ll be greeted with Styrofoam to pull out, the tank and remote and secured to the foam and the accessory/instruction bag is taped to the back. The tank was shipped directly from Hong Kong to the USA, so the packaging material did a very good job as the tank arrived in perfect condition.

Here’s everything all laid out for you:

Arctic did include a charger for the battery but sadly it was the wrong one. The battery is an 800mAH 7.2v type, and the remote uses a regular 9v battery.

 

There’s also a smaller bag included with shells and a plunger, yes the tank actually shoots them. A stand and cardboard target tank is included as well. According to the specs there’s supposed to be six shells included, but I only got four sadly.

 

So here’s the tank with a nice camouflage paint job on it.

 

Then here’s that blu-ray case again for scale:

 

So here’s some closer pictures of the side profile. The tank is very realistic looking, the turret can move around almost 360 degrees and the cannon barrel moves up and down about 15 degrees both ways.

 

The tracks of the tank are rubber, and flexible with grips like a real tank so they should do well on rough ground.

Here’s the front view, there are two red LED lights there. To load the cannon you push the shell down the barrel and push it the rest of the with the plunger.

There is excellent detail all over the tank, some things are just molded in place while others are attached.

 

Here’s a few close ups of the turret, there are side pieces that can open outward. There’s a machine gun on the top along with I would guess is a rangefinder, it too has an LED in it that lights up and rotates when you raise and lower the barrel.

 

 

Here’s a shot on the back showing the shovels just to show the detail.

Moving around the back of the tank, here there are also red LEDs or lights and a few hooks for towing. The clearance is a bit low, but hit anything at the right angle and it should just roll over it.

 

As I said the tracks are rubber and they seem very durable and fairly thick. Each of the ‘wheels’ do move independently and have their own springs or shock on them just like a real tank would.

 

The battery compartment and on/off switch is on the bottom.

 

Finally here’s the remote control unit, it’s green to math the tank or military theme.

 

The top half of the controller is where you’ll find the two joysticks, LED and power switch. The joystick are usually used in tandem with each other, push both forward to drive forward, both back to go backwards. To turn you can push just one stick or you can push/pull both at the same time, one forward and one back and the tank will really turn quickly.

On the bottom of the controller are more buttons. On the left is says ‘Machine Gun and Cannon’, but there is no machine gun, it’s just for the cannon controls for up and down. In the middle is the Fire button to fire the main cannon and then to the right are the turret controls.

The back is where the battery goes of course.

 

 

Specifications:

Land Rider 403

Remote Controlled Tank
1:16 scale

The Land Rider 403 is ready to take your backyard and roll to victory against your enemies. As a 1:16 scale of the renowned Leopard Tank design, this battle tank emulates the real thing.

Battlefield-Like Qualities
Equipped with adjustable smoothbore gun and bullet shooting function, the Land Rider 403 is all set to gun down your enemy. For added realism, the tank is painted with camouflage scheme and decals. It also plays realistic sound effects when the tank starts, moves and fires. Six plastic bullets are included and can be fired off one by one. Blast your enemies on your living room carpet with the powerful smoothbore gun on this RC tank.

Highly Maneuverable
Equipped with treads, the tank is able to go uphill at a maximum angle of 35° and run on off-road terrains. Multi-directional turret and tank movement adds flexibility for you to trace down your enemies. At a control distance of 30m, the tank is capable to fire while moving and gives you greater accuracy to shoot at your target.

Fully Assembled
The Land Rider 403 comes fully assembled. Simply get the battle going once the battery is fully charged.

Limited Warranty: 2 years
Dimensions (Product): 600 L x 245 W x 220 H mm
Battery: 7.2V NiMH (included with purchases)
Transmitter Battery: 9V Block Alkaline (not included with purchase)
Control Distance: 30m
item number: TOAHO-AHC1000-GB.4
UPC: 0872767003606
Gross Weight: 4 kg

Price: $129.97

Sadly I can’t tell you exactly how long it takes to charge the battery with the Arctic charger as they sent me the wrong one, according to the specs though it says it should take 5 hours. I ended up buying a quick charger locally instead of waiting for them to ship me one, only takes 45 minutes with that, much better than 5 hours surely. I got about 30 minutes on a charge which isn’t bad, you can eek a little more out if you don’t use the turret and gun and just drive around, but where’s the fun in that right? For me though it was fun just driving around, the turret moves very slow and I don’t know it’s just an added feature really, it’s more fun to just drive around and try to get over obstacles.

Speaking of the gun, it shoots great, and the the tank recoils like a real tank when you fire. To load the gun you just put a bullet in the barrel and use the plunger to push the shell into place. When you move the gun there’s a smaller, what I can guess is an optical rangefinder with red LED, that moves with it like it’s searching for a target. So it does shoot well but it’s not consistent, sometimes I could get three feet and other times it would shoot six feet and others a little longer.

I do have a video for you of the tank running around in my backyard, I tossed some bricks, rocks and wood around as obstacles. In the video you’ll see just how well the tank maneuvers around. I really like the fact that the tracks are independent of each other. You can use the remote to turn by pushing just one lever, but if you push one forward and one back the tank will really spin around. I found that the tank could easily get over all but the biggest obstacles, and can easily go up steep grades. One bad thing though is that things like leaves and stick can get stuck in the tracks jamming them. You can usually fix this just by moving back and forth a couple times, but sometimes it really gets jammed and you’ve got to do it manually. In the video you’ll also see the gun firing, no shells as they’re small and you can’t really see them on the video, but you’ll see how the tank recoils when you fire.

As far as range it’s pretty good. The specs state 30 meters which is about 98 feet, my yard isn’t that big and really at that distance it would most likely be out of site anyway. For my uses it worked fine, anywhere I drove it the tank went. I should note that I did have to change the remote battery with a new one as I think the one they sent me was about dead, an the range was very short, when I switched batteries everything worked fine.

So here’s the video, it’s done in 720p so you can hit the HD button and enjoy it better hopefully.

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Conclusion:

The Arctic land Rider 403 is just a blast to play with, and I mean that in more way than one I think.  The tank can easily go over most any obstacle, it’s fairly fast and easy to control. The range is just excellent as is the battery life. The tank is highly detailed, I’m impressed and I think you will be as well with the level of detail that went into this product. If your hobby is remote control things then you may want to seriously check this one out for Arctic and it’s just a lot of fun.

The turret of the tank can move around and the cannon barrel moves up and down providing a realistic experience. It can be used indoors or outdoors and it should be able to tackle most any obstacle you put in it’s path.

 

 

 

Pros:
+Great range
+Excellent detail
+Fun to use
+Big tank
+Can travel over very rough terrain and up steep grades
+Easy to use

Cons:
-Only included four bullets and not six
-No startup sound like stated

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

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