Trap Light? More Like Trap Lie
Written: Mar 20 '02 (Updated Mar 21 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Ummm, it looks kinda cool.
Cons: Poor lighting quality, bad design, bulky, makes storage almost impossible.
The Bottom Line: Unless you try this out before your purchase and really like it, chances are you'll be completely disappointed with the Radica Trap Light.
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| Freak369's Full Review: Radica Trap Light |
If you’ve played a Gameboy or Gameboy Advance, you know the most common complaint is the fact that there is no integrated lighting system with either unit. This wasn’t something that was overlooked, it was planned. Have you ever sat back and wondered about the Nintendo Game Genie? How is it that this product came out well after a majority of the games were released [some as much as three years] but worked with over 85% of the titles? It’s called ‘product management’. They throw out the bait to the consumers and a few months later offer something to enhance the gameplay. It’s certainly nothing new, but it still pis.ses me off to no extent.
There are only a handful of titles that I truly love to play on the Gameboy or Gameboy Advance – Dr. Mario, Tetris and Yoshi’s Cookie are what I can usually be found playing. These games are puzzle games that require a fair amount of light to see the screen, falling pieces and moving objects. Unless you are near a window or a somewhat direct light source – chances are you are going to end up getting creamed because you can’t see part of the screen. Determined to make it to the 10th and final level of Yoshi’s Cookie, I had to once again stop by and see the Gameboy Geeks to get some solid advice about a lighting unit for the Gameboy Advance. Since I butter them up with chocolate chip cookies, I don’t feel bad when I have to pick their brains for 30 minutes about accessories or to get game recommendations.
After about a week of looking at different lighting units, I settled on the Radica Trap Light. Price wasn’t much of an issue for me since the final contenders ranged from $9.99 - $14.99. The criteria I used to make my final decision is as follows:
Power Source I didn’t want something that would jack right into the system. I had a few of these for the Gameboy and it ended up killing the batteries in about two hours of constant gameplay. I would rather have the light assembly run off of two AA or AAA batteries than to run off the system batteries. This is just a personal preference. The Radica Trap Light operates off of two AA batteries that come with the product. These lasted about an hour before they started to dim on me.
Positioning I needed something that wouldn’t get in my way when playing a game. All too often the ‘worm’ type lights need too much adjusting to get the positioning right and one little bump will most definitely mess up your gaming experience. While the arms of the trap light are sturdy, there are only two stable positions that they lock into – the closed position and the fully open position. Anything in between those two and you are on your own. They arms are not loose, but if you don’t have them in the ‘locked / up’ position you run the risk of bumping them.
Glare Is there anything worse than having no light on a game? Yes, glare from a lighting accessory. I wanted something that would give me a good light source without heating up the screen. Also, I had hoped to pick up something that wouldn’t give me glare – I can hope can’t I? I have yet to find ‘the perfect add on lighting system’ and at this rate I’m not sure one even exists. The illustration on the package shows two separate light arms completely lighting up the screen – what they don’t tell you is that you also see the reflection of the two bulbs on the right and left hand side of the screen.
Accessibility One thing I didn’t want to have to do was to work around the lighting accessory to get to the volume control and the on / off switch. This is hard to judge when a product is still in the package – but I saw this out of the package prior to my purchase so I only have myself to blame. When the arms of the trap light are folded down [when not in use] the left arm covers the on / off switch and the right arm covers the volume control.
Size While this was the last item on my list of requirements, in hindsight I should have given this more consideration. The Radica Trap Light is a little bigger than I wanted and I should have listened to my first instinct when I saw it out of the package. Adding this to your Gameboy Advance will make it a little over a half-inch thicker and almost an inch wider [when the trap arms are in the closed / off position].
So those were a majority of the things that concerned me and eventually influenced my decision on the trap light purchase. Now that I can admit I made a mistake with the Radica Trap Light, I know exactly what to look for and what to avoid when looking for a better lighting system for the Gameboy Advance.
Attachment
When you first break this out of the package it looks pretty cool. The deck of the Gameboy Advance slides into the middle of the trap light and snaps into place. Since I didn’t notice the instructions sandwiched between the cardboard I did this blindly and prayed that I was doing it right. Once it snapped into place I realized that I needed to insert the batteries – something that I should have done first. The battery casing is protected by a screw – Philips head, tiny and rather stubborn. I had some trouble getting the screw completely out of the housing so if you purchase this – make sure you pull up on the battery cover while unscrewing or you’ll find yourself turning the screwdriver for a while. Once you insert the batteries, replace the cover, tighten the screw and you are ready to go.
Powering Up
The on / off switch for this unit is located on the bottom front panel. It is tucked out of the way so it can’t possibly get bumped, but it is a little too far out of the way. If you try to reach under it blindly, you’ll be able to turn it on and off – but only after a few tries. The location of the switch is nice since it’s out of the way and doesn’t interfere with gameplay, but it might be an issue if you need to power up the lighting attachment all of a sudden.
The Arms of Death
As I mentioned earlier when discussing what I wanted from a lighting accessory – I mentioned the positioning of the arms. Since there are only two stable, locked positions you might have to fiddle around with the trap light for a while to find ‘the sweet spot’. I have tried several games with this and all ended with frustration. While the trap light gives off some illumination, there was always a ¼ inch spot – right down the middle – that it didn’t reach. Somehow I think if they would have used longer bulbs it would have had better coverage of the screen. When playing Tetris, the dark portion of the screen was like a black hole – I couldn’t see the pieces that were stacked up nor could I see the entire shape of the falling pieces. Dr. Mario and Yoshi’s Cookie both has similar end results since there was always a portion of the screen that was left unlit.
After about 10 minutes of gameplay I started to notice the heat this puppy was giving off. While it is far enough from the screen that it won’t damage it with moderate gameplay – I can’t help but wonder how this will affect the screen or Gameboy Advance unit if played for an extended period of time. Maybe the manufacturers knew it would be useless and didn’t bother to do any quality testing on this issue.
The Feel
Since this is something that is going to feel like a splinter stuck under your skin, it is going to take a little getting used to after you first attach it to the Gameboy Advance – especially when the trap light is off and the arms are down. The light gray grips on the outer portion of the arms give the illusion that they are made of rubber or possibly aid in holding on to the game – but it’s just plain old plastic. When the arms are in the locked / down position there is still a little bit of play to them – which makes it a little hard to play some games with all the wiggling and giggling going on. You might ask “Why not just take the damn thing off?” – easier said than done my friend. Once this thing is on – it’s pretty much impossible to get it off. At first I thought I forget to remove the game cartridge from the back of the unit – but when I flipped it over I had indeed removed it. Unless you look at the top part of the trap light – it’s hard to see where the Gameboy Advance ends and where the lighting accessory begins.
That Damn Glare
Even if everything else worked perfectly – the glare situation makes this a real dog – with fleas. I tried several ‘at home’ quick fixes and while they provided a little relief, the glare was still there. Quick Fix # 1: The Post-It Note. I took the sticky side of a Post-It note and slapped it on to the lighting position of the arm. This helped to cut down on about 50% of the glare but it also stripped back some of the lighting power. Since the only Post-It Notes I had within arms reach were Dilbert, The Team Player – it made for an interesting round of Dr. Mario. Dilbert’s face was superimposed on to the screen .. I guess you just had to be there and see it to get the humor in it. Quick Fix # 2: Parchment Paper. When all else fails, parchment paper usually comes to the rescue. Seeing as it is lightweight, easy to work with and doesn’t give off a burnt wax smell like wax paper – I wrapped a piece around the trap light arm to see if that would help with the glare. Again, much like the Post-It Note it cut out about 50% of the glare but killed off some of the lighting power at the same time.
The Bottom Line
So, I made a bad purchase. The Gameboy Geeks gave me the pro’s and con’s on the Radica Trap Light and in the end, I made a decision based on how a product looked rather than it’s features. Personally, Radica should stick with making hand held games and stay out of the accessory market if this is the type of product they are going to be pushing. As I said, it may look nice and after a while it does feel good in your hands, but it doesn’t do what it’s supposed to – provide adequate lighting and improve gameplay in darker surrounding.
Price Guide
If you are still interested in this, here are some links to sites that have this for sale. You might want to check locally to avoid shipping and handling fees as well. Since Epinions doesn’t have the picture listed on the site, you can see the Radica Trap Light by visiting any of the sites below.
Prices are current as of March 13, 2002
Outpost.com - $ 7.99 plus shipping
http://www.outpost.com/product/3194760/
[You can also purchase this at Outpost.com’s physical store – Fry’s Electronics]
Shoplet.com – $9.99 plus shipping
http://www.shoplet.com/cdrom/db/GSTRC71082.html
EBGames.com - $9.99 plus shipping
http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/categories/products/product.asp?pf_id=213284
[currently on back order]
GameStop.com - $9.99 plus shipping
http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=801290
As always, thanks for the read!
^V^ Freak ^V^
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