Here we go - I finally got around to doing a review of the Bonzer Mat.
Here's what you get:
- a carring case
- a mat
- tubing for guide rails
- clips to fix tubing to mat
- couplers to attach tubes together
Impressive package, I like the self-contained idea with a carrying case.
Unrolling the mat on one side reveals a pre-made track for you.
and the reverse size reveals a grid to transfer your own track designs to.
Holes are evenly spaced out in a grid of squares allowing you to put the clips in just about anywhere.
After about 20 minutes of setup, here's what we got:
Following the pre-made track design (a few holes seem to have been added that don't follow the typical grid of squares pattern) we notice the mat itself has some retention memory.
You can see little "waves" in the mat itself. This is from having the track rolled up. The thick canvas type material is heavy enough to some-what crease itself.
This is also probably why the recommend to roll the mat (not crease it) and to not crush it.
The guide rails don't follow exactly, but good enough for government work.
The directions tell us to clip together over-lapping pieces of tubing. So we did.
It didn't turn out like the pictures in the instructions - not sure why, it's kinda hard to get the tubing to squeeze together and fit in the clip.
The tubing tweeks enough to cause the clip to pull to a side (usually the side the over-lapping tubing is going towards).
I was a little worried about having open-ended tubing sticking out on the track, a car could get stuck on it - so I didn't mind the clip tweeking enough to put the over-lapping piece of tubing on top.
Tight corners are a little bit of a conern with the tubing, it's thin enough to crease.
I don't really see this as a super huge issue, the tubing has to be able to bend tight in areas depending on how you design the track.
I was hoping though that after installing the guide-rail tubing, it would help pull those "waves" out of the mat.
The retention memory is just too long and strong so I imagine after keeping it un-rolled for awhile, those "waves" will work themselves out.
After complete setup, we're ready to give it some test runs.
Before we get into the test runs results, notice the "waves" and the clip in the lower right hand corner, it's pulling itself out.
It's not affecting anything now, but I wonder about the future, if you keep putting a clip in and taking it out of the same hole, I think that hole might get stretched out enough to allow the clip to be loosely fixed to the mat. (all that hole talk sounded kinda pornographic)
The track itself is kind of small for my driving habits. I typically like to go fast and wreck alot.
This course seems to be more of a slower technical driving track. Which I do like as well, especially with more buddies racing.
After going down to a smaller motor, I was able to control it more, but the "waves" were still causing a few troubles - as well as my driving I'm sure.
When trying to push the limits, I'd hit a "wave" or "dip" in the mat - over correct and then into the guide rails. For the most part the guide rails worked just fine, but there were a few incidents where the car drove right over them.
I don't think it's due to any 1 thing, I think it's the combination of the "waves" and "dips" in the mat, the speed, my driving, etc.
...and there you have it.
my experience and review of the Bonzer Mat.
hope that helps some of you out there.
