REVIEW – Radio-controlled toys and vehicles have always fascinated me. RC planes and helicopters are something I really enjoy watching, but I would never own them because I’d be too scared of crashing. RC cars or trucks look like endless fun, but knowing myself, I’d get into the hobby too deep and would constantly want to get it to go faster and jump farther. That leaves RC boats. When the DEERC DE95 Wave Shredder RC Jet Boat came up for review, it intrigued me. I’d never considered an RC boat before. Living in Florida, there are lakes and ponds around every corner. So, how’s playing with an RC Boat? In a word – Fun!!!
What is it?
The DEERC DE95 Wave Shredder RC Jet Boat is a battery-powered RC boat with a safe, internal propeller, a water-cooled brushless motor, super-fast speed (over 25 mph!), and a very tight turning radius. The DE95 has almost instant acceleration and a nearly 500-foot range. This thing was way quicker and more fun than I could have imagined.
What’s included?
- DE95 RC Jet Boat
- 2.4 Ghz controller
- 2 Li-Ion Batteries
- Charging cable
- Instructions
- Small screwdriver and Allen wrench
Tech specs
Click to expand
- Top Speed: 25+ mph (40+ kph)
- Range: 493 feet (150 meters)
- Controller: 2.4 Ghz
- Batteries: 7.4V 1500mAh Li-Ion
- Motor: Water-cooled brushless
- Propulsion: Jet Pump (internal propeller), shallow water operation
- Alarms: Low battery and nearing out of range
- Run time: 15 minutes per battery
- Boat size: 13.39 x 3.94 x 4.53 inches (34 x 10 x 11.5 cm)
Design and features
The DEERC DE95 Wave Shredder RC Jet Boat is simple enough to operate. Once the battery is inserted and connected inside the boat, and the controller was turned on, you are ready to shred the waves (hence the name).
The Jet Boat is propelled like a jet ski. It does not have an external propeller as so many RC boats have. The propeller is internal and the bottom has an intake to suck water in and shoot it out the back. Similar to the way a jet pulls in air and exhausts it with force. This makes the Jet Boat able to move through very shallow water, and not get tangled up in weeds or mud as much as a traditional propeller setup.
The brushless motor is very small and is water-cooled. The boat has tubing that takes some of the water used to move the boat and sends it through a water cooler attached to the motor housing to keep it cool, and running smoothly.
All if the internal components are waterproof. This is a good thing since the boat does leak a little bit. Each time I ran the boat during the review period, the inside of the boat was wet. This concerned me at first, and I tried to figure out how water was getting in, since the system seemed to be sealed very well. I never did figure it out, and the droplets of water never seemed to hamper its operation at all.
The Wave Shredder does have a drain plug in the stern if excessive water gets in. I never had to use this as the amount of water getting inside was very little.
Some RC boats have a feature to “self-right” themselves if they flip over while running. The DE95 does not have this ability. I never had the boat flip on the lake, thank goodness, but in the pool, it did flip over a few times. If it did flip over on a larger body of water, I guess I would have had to wait for the wind to blow it back to shore.
This Jet Boat also has the ability to run in reverse. I did run the bow aground a few times and having reverse would have been nice to back it up and get it going again.
The controller has a couple of basic controls and adjustment knobs. You can fine-tune the rear rudder to make sure it is actually centered. The same for the steering. You can fine-tune the responsiveness to the left and right steering knob.
There is also an adjustment knob for the maximum speed. Dialing down the top speed is useful in learning how the boat operates and responds. Once I got acclimated to its operation, I cranked it up all the way and never looked back.
The DE95 has two, very dim LEDs on the stern that can be turned off via the controller. These LEDs were so dim, that they seemed kind of useless.
There is an additional button on the controller labeled “NONE”. It functioned perfectly in doing just that. Nothing.
Performance
Construction
The boat is made of very durable, thick plastic. The very tip of the bow has a thick rubber bumper. This came in handy a few times smacking into things in our little lake/pond in our neighborhood, and our community pool. Hitting the side of the pool caused the bumper to come off. It is easily put back on, but it could get lost in a lake or pond if it hits something hard enough. Also, hitting something hard caused the battery to become dislodged in its bracket inside the boat. Not really an issue, but it does move the center of gravity slightly.
Something interesting about this model is the color scheme. It has an American football motif, specifically the Green Bay Packers colors. It even has a football helmet of the front. The same body and attachments are used for a few other boats from other manufacturers, but this is the most unique paint job and decoration.
Controller
The controller is very light, and it fit in my hand comfortably. It has a trigger switch for speed that is variable. A light squeeze will make the boat move, but slowly. A full-on squeeze will make it zoom at top speed. The steering is accomplished with a 2″ knob on the side. I tended to hold it sideways with the steering knob on the top to orient it turning it left and right to steer it left and right.
Speed
As you can see from the video above, this little boat is FAST! It has almost instant acceleration and only slows as the battery runs out. Although I didn’t measure the actual speed, I believe the manufacturer when they say it will go almost 25 mph (40+ kph) on smooth water.
Turning Radius
The turn radius on the DE95 is very tight. At full speed, I would guess it’s about 15 feet (4.5 meters) to the left, and 20 feet (6 meters) to the right. I am not sure why there’s a slight difference, but there is. It was a lot of fun to go in circles in one direction and then cut back over the wake to make the little Jet Boat jump out of the water.
Run Time and Range Alarms
The included batteries are supposed to last about 15 minutes at full speed. So with the two included batteries, you should get about 30 minutes of playtime. I did find the batteries lasted a few minutes longer if I didn’t run at full speed the whole time. I seemed to extend the time by about 5 minutes. Not much, but nice to have more time.
When the battery runs low, the controller will alert you to give you time to get the boat back to you before it runs out completely. The last thing you want is to have the battery run out when doing Figure 8’s in the middle of a lake.
Similarly, the controller will alert you if you’ve reached the limit of the range. The little lake in our neighborhood is about 450-500 feet long, so I only heard this alarm one time when I ran it to the opposite shore when I was standing about 50 feet from the edge of the water.
Setup
The DEERC DE95 Wave Shredder RC Jet Boat comes fully assembled. All that was needed was inserting batteries into the controller (4 AA’s), and charging the two Li-Ion batteries for the boat, it was time to go boating.
Charging on the provided cable took hours. You can only charge one battery at a time, so in all, it took about 6 hours to charge both batteries. That is a long time for two 1500mAh batteries.
One tip would be to grease the hatch’s rubber seal with some o-ring grease. This might help to prevent leaks a little more than not greasing it.
What I like about the DEERC DE95 Wave Shredder RC Jet Boat
- Fast!
- Longer than expected run-time per battery
- Very well engineered
- Water-cooled brushless motor was very strong
- Two batteries included
- Very responsive steering and throttle
- Easily mastered by 7 to 60 year olds
What needs to be improved?
- Leaks a little
- The charging cable is toy-grade. A better charger would be nice.
- No reverse
- No self-righting
Final thoughts
The DEERC DE95 Wave Shredder RC Jet Boat gave me great fun at our little neighborhood lake and even the pool. This exceptionally fast and durable boat will be the hit of many family gatherings as it already has been. My grandkids loved it and were able to master it in just a few minutes.
Price: $89.99
Where to buy: Amazon (Save 10% with code: 10TGTDE95 )
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by DEERC. DEERC did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
