Technic 42158 NASA Mars Rover Perseverance Toy Vehicle with Augmented Reality Building Set
Product details
Web ID: 16425458Ratings & Reviews
50 customer images
just good enough
The set brought a lot of positive emotions: it’s larger than it looks; it looks great on a shelf; the suspension design is brilliant and stays true to the original; the wheels look like they were taken straight off a real rover; the build is interesting and the functions are engaging… But when it comes to the functions, it turns out they are mostly demonstrative. Perseverance can’t overcome obstacles on its own without assistance, it has noticeable play in the mechanisms, and its handling strongly depends on the surface it moves on. Its robotic arm wobbles heavily due to its weight and also has a lot of slack. - On top of that, Lego continues to refuse to produce Technic connector parts in different colors, which hurts the appearance of any set. I understand that this can be explained by the high requirements for simplified building aimed at the 10+ category, but the same situation is observed in sets aimed at 18+ as well. Set 42158 turned out to be ambiguous: it feels as if the designers wanted to make a fully functional working replica of Perseverance, but once they found out the set would be rated 10+, they still tried to cram in as many parts as possible, neglecting the functions or their actual performance. As an adult, I’m very happy with this approach, but as a child I wouldn’t be sure that I’d enjoy the functions of this set. However, the virtual reality feature adds some advantages—though it’s a pity that you interact with it not through the rover itself, but only via a phone. Stickers can also be explained by the low entry threshold and the requirement to allow rebuilding the model into something else, but this issue is also present in “display-only” 18+ sets, so it’s not really an excuse. In the photos, I tried to fix the issue with inappropriate part colors wherever I could, and also added a couple of tweaks, like other fans did, while trying to stick to Lego’s standards in terms of structural strength. I really liked the set for its price, but I can’t ignore the obvious issues—it has plenty of shortcomings.
Recommends this product
Customer review from LEGO
Perseverance Rocks
I have been a huge space enthusiast since I was a child. I have started collecting all the Lego sets that are related to our space program. I was so excited to see Perseverance was included.
Recommends this product
Customer review from LEGO
Perfect
Lots of interactive features and amazing price. Definitely recommended for kids.
Recommends this product
Customer review from LEGO
Really cool build!
Fun to build and play with when finished! Has loads of interesting features.
Recommends this product
Customer review from LEGO
Not the most satisfying build…. Or play
Let’s start off with the basics. My first Technic build so a new experience for me. Just 4 bags for 1000+ pieces meant you had to spend quite a bit of time searching for parts (especially given the limited colour range). Having said that the instructions were pretty clear and I had no real problem with the build. However, I simply cannot get the wheels to point in the right direction and I’ve given up for the moment. The arm works fine, rotates in/out and up/down. It looks pretty good but I was just left a bit unsatisfied. I did find that I had to take a couple of parts from extras from earlier bags, nothing was missing overall. I’d already bought a couple of other Technics boxes, let’s see how those go, not sure I’ll buy any more
Customer review from LEGO
Response from LEGO
Thanks for sharing your new explorations with the NASA Mars Rover Perseverance with us. To set the wheels, move the lever on top forwards to point them straight or backwards to turn the rover in a circle. You can also rotate the gear on top of the lever to turn left or right. If there's still trouble, contact our mission experts at LEGO.build/Service-BV for a helping hand.
Excellent gift
Lego has excelled with this set - my grandson was ‘over the moon’ with this challenging but rewarding set - Lego never disappoints!!
nice product
at first, the set seem really hard to build, be we started and finished it a few hours later, I really like all the functions and it was worth it.
Recommends this product
Customer review from LEGO
Fun build
Good build, complex but fun to assemble
Recommends this product