PowerTRC 6" 3-D Mirascope, Illusion Maker | Optical Illusions | 3-D Effect Toy

Very cool

This is a little toy. It doesn’t do much, just like Perry the Platypus. However, it is really amusing to use and share with friends and family. It would be a great toy to have on your desk. Kids really love it too. It does work best with the frog it came with, but we were able to get it to work with small game board pieces, little resin figures and even coins. All in all, it’s a cute little toy that we got a kick out of. It was worth the cost.

Works exactly as it should. Super cool, fun toy. Seems good quality.

This little experiment is quite interesting! We placed things on top. The right size seems so real. It truly appears as if you can pick it up. Then we played with lasers... Interestingly, if you tilt a laser downward, it appears to bounce off the image (we used a frog). If you shine it through the image, nothing happens. If you catch the front and back edges of the opening with the laser, it scatters in a very unique way. Such fun!

When I was a kid I had a similar product that was about 12 inches across. The illusion in that product was PERFECT. Utterly flawless...until, that is, I wiped the mirrors with a cloth when they got dusty. The tiny invisible scratches this laid into the mirrors was enough to warp the illusion. The product still *worked*, but if you moved your head you could see the illusion waver and deform like a funhouse mirror, and you would never be fooled into thinking it was a real object sitting there. This by the way is true of binoculars also — wiping or scrubbing at the lenses of binoculars will destroy them immediately; they take special care and very specific cleaning techniques. Well, with all that background knowledge, when I purchased this 6-inch pair of illusion makers for my son, I was already aware of the fragility of the mirrors and the importance of not scraping or wiping them. But lo! The manufacturer beat me to it. The mirrors arrived ALREADY scraped and scratched, like someone wiped them with a dirty dustcloth. The illusion is not at all perfect. They are still fun, and I bought them as a Christmas gift so am not returning them. My son and wife were both delighted, never having seen a PERFECT version of the same illusion. But I know what we are missing. I don't know if there is a really good, distortion-free version of this product available but it sure would be nice. Nice product, just know what you're getting.

I recalled these as a kid, I had wished I was able to locate a larger 12" size. The illusion works very well for small items (probably 1"x1"), since it still needs space at the top for the light to some out. I haven't yet found anything other than the frog (came with it) and a marble to use. I will 3D print something in the future to add to it. It also come with a little stand to place it on, so it doesn't wobble. It is a fun illusion to place on my desk.

Just nice

Such a cool thing, simple concept but the image is so realistic people will literally try to grab the projected image as if it’s the real thing. Need to use small items to get the effect best, like the little toy frog it comes with, or a small screw or jelly beans or something. Kids love it, we started getting these as birthday gifts for kids who already “have everything” as it keeps their attention again and again as they try different things inside it. Highly recommend!!

We bought this for our 9 year old grandson for Christmas, and he has a blast 'fooling' people with this device. You see something, you try to pick it up, and it's not there. Fun product!