Funny TechCulture

Adults Are Way Too Excited About This Kid's Video Walkie-Talkie

It boots up with the PSP startup sound. Smartphones exist. People are buying it anyway.

· 5 min · Togetter

What's going on

3COINS is a popular Japanese variety store chain whose name comes from its original ¥300 (three coins) price point — though many items now go for more. Their latest viral item is a video walkie-talkie set priced at ¥3,850: two handheld units that stream live video and audio between each other via a push-to-talk button, running on the 2.4GHz band. It's packaged and marketed as a children's toy for outdoor adventures.

The catch is that adults are the ones losing their minds over it. Everyone has a smartphone. LINE video calls are free. The effective range tops out somewhere around 50 meters. None of this matters. When one early adopter went to the store to check it out and shared the find online, the replies quickly filled with people saying "I have absolutely no practical use for this and I need one." And then someone noticed the startup sound was the same as the PSP (Sony's PlayStation Portable, the beloved handheld console from the mid-2000s) — whether intentional or not — and that was basically it for everyone's self-control.

The thread turned into a mix of technical questions, use-case brainstorming, and gentle grieving over childhood walkie-talkie dreams that never quite came true.

Comments

Came to check out 3COINS’ video walkie-talkie right away. (3COINS is a Japanese variety store chain; the name comes from the original ¥300 price point — this item is ¥3,850.) In talk mode (standby), press PTT and it connects to the other unit. Built-in camera streams live video both ways. Press PTT and your voice goes through too. This looks fun. ¥3,850. Hmm, do I get it…
Of course you’re already checking it out! Mine arrives in a few days 😅
Just bought one. Nobody to play with 😭
Found it in the jungle too. (「密林」— “dense jungle” — is a nickname for Amazon Japan, playing on the Amazon rainforest.) Auto-pairing apparently. Feels like something’s getting siphoned from wherever it was made 📶
Yeah there seem to be similar-looking products out there. Not sure about giteki certification though. (技適/giteki is Japan’s technical conformance certification required for wireless devices; uncertified ones can’t be legally operated here.)
About how far does the range actually go?
According to the giteki listing it’s “G1D.D1D 2412–2472MHz 1–10mW”. How far it actually reaches — gotta play with it and find out.
Oh, it’s 2.4GHz band ♪ Maybe I’ll grab a set… 😅
Well, adults have to show the kids how it’s done first!
Caved to the temptation of a new toy and headed to 3COINS 💸 The startup sound felt familiar — turns out it’s the PSP boot sound 🤣 (PSP: PlayStation Portable, Sony’s iconic handheld gaming console, released in 2004.)
It’s the PSP!! lol
This is exactly the thing I want 💦 Praying it’s still in stock by the weekend 🙏
It’s a kid’s toy but it’s the adults who are getting all worked up lol
Also available on Amazon. The listing title: “Rechargeable kids video call camera set ×2 | rechargeable | with screen | outdoor adventure camping hiking travel family game outdoor activities”
Is this thing actually okay to use…?
Looks good. My daughter’s been into walkie-talkies lately, so the live video is a fun upgrade. That said, usable range is apparently only 50m — whether it’s actually practical… kinda iffy.
For what it’s worth — I tried giving my kid a walkie-talkie to track their location, but inside a shopping mall it bleeds into the staff earpieces at every store. (「インカム」/incam: short for intercom; the small walkie-talkie earpieces widely worn by staff in Japanese retail and restaurants.) You end up hearing things like “Hey [name], take your break when you’re done.” Change the frequency and you just get a different store’s chatter. Outdoor use only.
This is nice actually. I call my parents by phone when I need something but they live close by — a walkie-talkie might genuinely work better.
I loved stuff like this as a kid. Had a watch that could send and receive messages via infrared.
I desperately wanted a walkie-talkie as a kid — eventually got one from Gakken (Gakken: Japanese educational publisher known for science toys and hobby kits), but the range was so short it couldn’t even reach my friend’s house down the street. My dream of secret midnight conversations was crushed. Smartphones let you call anyone for free now, obviously, but somehow the old fantasy just doesn’t come back without an actual walkie-talkie. Why is that.
I’ve been curious about this one ❗️ A bit pricey at ¥3,850, but it might be fun to play with my daughter… 😅
If you set it up right, this could basically work as an indoor intercom.
Oh yeah, perfect for a mom calling the kids down from their rooms.
You could just use a LINE video call for free, and yet here we are watching it go viral with people buying it — kind of fascinating. (LINE: Japan’s dominant messaging and video call app, used by virtually everyone in the country.)
Found another fun-looking thing 😳 Being 2.4GHz, even line-of-sight across a wide river would probably be rough, right? 🤔 I wanna run all kinds of experiments but ¥3,850 at 3COINS is steep 😭
The fact that it’s not actually “3 coins” price though…
Way too many things at 3COINS aren’t “3-coin” priced 😅

My take

Smartphones can do all of this for free, there's no practical use for it, and yet I inexplicably want one. Why is that.

Comments loosely translated for tone.

Source https://togetter.com/li/2699181