By Andrew Liszewski
Before anyone gets too excited about the prospect of finally finding a way to easily turn a roman candle into a handheld ‘flaming ball of pain’ launcher, let me dash those dreams. This handheld fireworks projector is actually designed for kids, so safety standards and lawyers pretty much guarantee it’s not going to be as fun as the name implies. Instead, it simply projects images of fireworks, one of eight as selected on the rotating barrel. But it’s not completely boring.
The projector features a pump action handle which ‘launches’ a shell, complete with mortar-like sound effects and a whistling trail sound as it races across the sky… of your imagination. Squeezing the trigger then detonates the shell/projects the selected fireworks image with accompanying booms, crackles and whistles. It’s powered by 3xAA batteries which is probably one of the reasons it only has a projectable range of about 5 feet. Lame? Yes. Far safer than a handheld device that launches actual fireworks? Probably also yes. Available from Hammacher Schlemmer for $39.95.
