sasazuka  - 2014-05-03
The middle button (1:57), which I think was supposed to be some kind of probe signal, was the worst offender of the three buttons for being annoying and quite possibly ear damage potential, but they were all really, really loud. Like, I don't think my laptop speaker is giving the full effect of just how loud this thing was. It's like, you can turn the sound down on your computer. You can turn the sound down on a Youtube video. You couldn't turn the sound down on Fisher-Price Alpha Probe, and each of the sounds went for at least five seconds or so, as demonstrated here.
And if I was annoyed by the sounds made by this thing as a kid, I can't imagine how my parents found it.
It must have had some kind of sound chip, which, for a toy that first went on the market in 1979, was actually kind of impressive for the time. Just wish they'd have reduced the volume a couple of dozen decibels.
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Oscar Wildcat - 2014-05-03 Hell yes that is a sweet toy. The engine start-up sound is terrific! If you found it too loud, well it was predicting the future after all wasn't it? Look at the sound gear people drive around with.
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sasazuka - 2014-05-03 Oh yes, the engine start-up sound was awesome. All's I'm saying is that 50-60db would have gotten the point across just fine.
I don't currently have an Alpha Probe to measure, but I'm fairly confident the loudness was somewhere within the 80-90db range, which was way toy loud for a toy the normal kid playing with it would have been holding it maybe 2 feet from his (or her) ears.
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sasazuka - 2014-05-03 "which was way too loud", not "toy loud", although, indeed, "toy [was] loud".
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That guy - 2014-05-03
I had one of these. I can't wait for the franchise reboot movie!
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Jet Bin Fever - 2014-05-03
Oh man. Memories. I already shared the specific ones on the original thread.
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Jet Bin Fever - 2014-05-03 oh, and ours broke really early on but we kept it in a noise free state for years and years.
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Jeriko-1 - 2014-05-03
I had one of these! Christmas of 84'!
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memedumpster - 2014-05-03
The Alpha Probe emits piercing dominance noises to warn away rivals.
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Oscar Wildcat - 2014-05-04 This is the kind of toy I like to call "The grandparents revenge".
I got something like this as a boy. My grandparents gave us a push lawn mower with a mechanical clapper so when you pushed the mower it would make an "authentic sound". Needless to say, it was the most obnoxious sounding thing imaginable. Well, we took to it like ducks to water, and that lasted about a week until my father took the clapper part out. The toy was useless then, and we abandoned it.
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memedumpster - 2014-05-04 I was the total dick uncle who would get my nieces and nephews entire bands worth of toy instruments for Christmas.
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Burnov - 2014-05-04
I had this, and honestly even as a child I found the middle button to be utterly cringeworthy.
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ashtar. - 2014-05-04
Hey, remember that toy I had? Oh man, it had buttons.
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