RC dinosaur toys: The best of 2022
Remote control dinosaur toys were, and still are, greatly popular, especially among kids who are 7 years and up. The possibility of having their dino move, roar, make sounds, or even light up, is intriguing for a child.
The great thing is that remote control dinosaur toys are not as expensive as they used to be. And to make things even better their quality and range of functions has improved considerably since then too. So a remote control dino toy can make for a perfect gift for your little one, without breaking your bank.
Here are some of the top picks I found in this range of dinosaur toys. As you’ll see, these toys are quite affordable, and offer a range of innovative functionality. You’ll also be able to strike the right balance between affordability and features. This will help you decide on whether to opt for a basic toy or spending more for a smart toy.
Table of Contents
Best Remote Control dinosaur toys of 2022
| Image | Product | Price | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
  | TEMI Dino Battle Simulated Walking RC T-Rex | $$ | ||||
  | Dinosaur Leader RC Indominus Rex | $$$ | ||||
  | TEMI Dino Battle RC Stunt T-Rex | $$ | ||||
  | Raptor Brutal RC Dinosaur | $$$ | ||||
  | Dinosaurs World RC Spinosaurus | $$ | ||||
How we review RC dinosaur toys
For our reviews and ratings, we took four main factors into account—Functionality, Replayability, Affordability, and Availability.
Functionality—many RC dinosaurs come with additional features and functions, like sound effects, flashing lights, and spraying mist. Having a good range of features helps to make these toys more fun and engaging, helping to keep play fresh.
Replayability—nobody wants a remote controlled toy that’s played with for a couple of hours, just to go back into the box before the day is over. When it comes to replayability, we’re looking for features, functions, and abilities that keep kids coming back for more.
Affordability—while price can vary considerably from toy-to-toy, we don’t think anyone should be paying more than $40-50 for an RC dinosaur. This means that we’ve only included toys that come under this price point and have factored in just how far under they come into our overall rating of each of the toys here.
Availability—while there have been plenty of amazing remote control dinosaurs in the past—many of which are arguably better than some of the options on offer today—there’s not much point in including them if they can’t be easily picked up from places like Amazon. This means that all of the toys that made it to our list are both current and readily available from major retailers.
We’ve scored every RC dinosaur on our list in each of the above criteria, providing an aggregated, overall rating. This rating should give you a good idea of how just good a particular remote control dinosaur toy is at a glance.
5 Best RC Dinosaur Toys: Our picks
1. TEMI Dino Battle Simulated Walking RC T-Rex—Best remote control T-Rex toy
In the box: 1x RC dinosaur, 1x 2.4Ghz remote control, 1x injection bottle, 1x USB charging cable | Battery (dinosaur): | Battery (controller): 2x 1.5v AA batteries (not included) | Recommended age: 6+ years | Price: $$
content
What we like
- Two color options to choose from—green and brown
What we don’t
- Small capacity rechargeable battery—up to just 30 minutes of play
Check TEMI Dino Battle Simulated Walking RC T-Rex price on Amazon
2. Dinosaur Leader RC Indominus Rex—Best RC dinosaur for Jurassic World fans
In the box: 1x RC dinosaur, 1x 2.4Ghz remote control, 1x injection bottle, 1x USB charging cable, 2x screws, 1x screwdriver | Battery (dinosaur): 3.7v 1200 mAh rechargeable battery | Battery (controller): 2x 1.5v AA batteries (not included) | Recommended age: 6+ years| Price: $$$
content
What we like
- Two color options to choose from—green and grey
- Sound effects can be turned off
- Large capacity rechargeable battery giving up to 2 hours of play
What we don’t
- Mist and sound effect functions are automatic—you can’t control these from the remote
Check Dinosaur Leader RC Indominus Rex price on Amazon
3. TEMI Dino Battle RC Stunt T-Rex—Best range of motion and movement
In the box: 1x RC Dinosaur, 1x 2.4Ghz remote control, 1x injection bottle, 2x rechargeable battery pack, 1x USB charging cable | Battery (dinosaur): 4.8v 400 mAh rechargeable battery | Battery (controller): 2x 1.5v AA batteries (not included) | Recommended age: 6+ years | Price: $$
content
What we like
- Head and neck are moveable—can turn left and right using the remote control
- Sound effects can be turned off
What we don’t
- Small capacity rechargeable battery—up to just 30 minutes of play
- Only available in one color option
Check TEMI Dino Battle RC T-Rex price on Amazon
4. Raptor Brutal RC Dinosaur—Best remote control Velociraptor toy
In the box: 1x RC dinosaur, 1x 2.4Ghz remote control, , 1x injection bottle, 1x 3.7v USB charging cable, 3x screws, 1x screwdriver | Battery (dinosaur): 3.7v 1200mAh rechargeable battery | Battery (controller): 2x 1.5v AA batteries (not included) | Recommended age: 3+ years | Price: $$$
content
What we like
- Two color options to choose from—grey and tan
- Large capacity rechargeable battery giving up to 2 hours of play
What we don’t
- No mist spraying function
- Sound effects are automatic—you can’t control these from the remote
Check Raptor Brutal RC Dinosaur price on Amazon
5. Dinosaurs World RC Spinosaurus—Best remote control Spinosaurus toy
In the box: 1x RC dinosaur, 1x 2Ghz remote control, 1x 3.7v 500mAh rechargeable battery, 1x 3.7v USB charging cable, 3x screws, 1x screwdriver | Battery (dinosaur): 3.7v 500 mAh rechargeable battery | Battery (controller): 2x 1.5v AA batteries (not included) | Recommended age: 3+ years | Price: $$
content
What we like
- Two color options to choose from—black and tan
- The toy’s sail lights up
What we don’t
- Small capacity rechargeable battery—up to just 30 minutes of play
- No mist spraying function
- No volume control or way to turn off sound effects
Check Dinosaurs World RC Spinosaurus price on Amazon
Bonus Pick: CaDA The Dinosaur World Tyrannosaurus—Best for STEM
In the box: 343x LEGO-compatible pieces, 1x 2.4Ghz remote control, 1x sticker sheet, 1x instruction booklet | Battery (dinosaur): 3x 1.5v AA batteries (not included) | Battery (controller): 2x 1.5v AA batteries (not included) | Recommended age: 6+ years | Price: $$
content
What we like
- The set comes in one of two styles—Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops
- Can be used with either the 2.4Ghz remote or via Bluetooth using the mobile app
- Programmable using the Scratch programming language
- Pieces are LEGO-compatible
What we don’t
- No rechargeable battery—both the remote and RC dinosaur use 1.5v AA batteries
- The build instructions could be better, being difficult to follow in places
Check CaDA The Dinosaur World Tyrannosaurus price on Amazon
Remote control dinosaur toy buying guide
Things to consider before buying an RC dinosaur
RC dinosaur toy buying tips
While buying a remote control dinosaur isn’t exactly rocket science, there are however a few things worth looking for and/or keeping in mind when picking out the perfect toy.
In the list that follows, we’ll cover some of these, giving a few useful pointers to help you avoid common pitfalls people run into when choosing the best remote control dinosaur.
1. Be wary of the marketing
Many of these toys promise much more than they actually offer. This could be overselling a basic feature, or making claims of additional features that are dubious at best and more likely, completely non-existent.
Things like “battle mode”, “multiple charging methods” which are all USB, or “ambient lighting” that’s a simple LED in the toy’s mouth, are all examples of this sort of marketing fluff that you’ll commonly find on Amazon listings for these types of toys.
While these listings aren’t exactly lying, they’re doing their best to oversell what are often non-features, so just be wary of these claims and know when to disregard something that’s clearly a bit of overhype for what is arguably a non-feature.
2. Playing with two or more of these toys together probably isn’t possible
Following on from our previous point about less than honest marketing, one thing that you’ll commonly see with these toys are mocked up images of kids playing together with one or more of these toys together. This simply isn’t true, as the majority of low-end remote controlled toys are 2.4Ghz and are susceptible to interference – also known as “crosstalk”.
This means that you won’t be able to use two or more of these remote controlled toys in close proximity to each other, as the radio signals sent from each controller will get mixed up. In practice, you’ll find that either one controller takes control of multiple toys, erratic or unexpected behavior from each toy, or in some cases, they’ll simply stop working altogether.
If you’re a parent looking for a couple of different remote control dinosaur toys for your children to use together, you’re best off looking at those that use different technologies to control them. For instance, using a 2.4Ghz and Infrared (IR) toy together won’t result in interference.
3. Ignore the branding, as many of these RC dinosaurs are exactly the same
When shopping around for remote control dinosaurs you’ll encounter plenty of different brands, with brands like Hot Bee, TEMI, JOYIN, STEAM Life, and BFUNTOYS, to name just a few. In most cases, these companies don’t make their toys themselves, instead sourcing and whitelabelling them from third-party manufacturers.
While there are usually some minor differences between the products that these brands offer, such as the packaging and even the style of remote that’s included, the core product will more often be exactly the same. This makes shopping around, looking for the same product from different brands worthwhile, as there can often be a pretty significant difference in price, as much as $20-30 in some cases.
That said, some manufacturers will brand these products before they’re repackaged and sold by resellers, which can make it even easier to find identical remote control dinosaur toys from different brands. Some examples would include the “Dinosaur Leader” and “Raptor Brutal” rc dinosaur toy ranges.
4. Watch out for swapped product listings
If you’ve ever been browsing Amazon and wondered why the product reviews and customer questions don’t seem to make any sense or have conflicting information, chances are you’ve landed on a swapped product listing.
Put simply, a swapped product listing is when a seller takes a historic listing which already has plenty of sales and reviews, and swaps the product for another, giving the impression that the reviews of this listing belong to its new product.
Frankly, it’s pretty dishonest, probably against Amazon’s TOS, and absolutely rife on Amazon! This is especially true with this type of toy given that they’re mostly offered by Chinese sellers, who are notorious for this sort of practice. That’s not to say all Chinese sellers do this, far from it, we’re just saying it’s worth being mindful of this practice when reading through product listings.
RC dinosaur toy safety
Remote control dinosaur FAQs
What’s the difference between robot dinosaurs and RC dinosaurs?
It depends who you ask. In our view, a remote control dinosaur toy is all about movement, being able to run or drive it around a space, as you might with an RC car. In contrast, a robot dinosaur is all about the additional functionality offered, whether this is playing music music, dancing, educational value, and/or programming modes.
While there is often a good deal of crossover between these two different types of toys, generally, remote control dinosaurs will be limited to controlling movement. Another key distinction between the two would be the ways in which you’re able to interact, with dinosaur robots typically having touch sensors, or other, more innovative ways to interact, like through hand gestures or voice commands.
These additional features and functionalities usually come with a higher price tag, which is why we’ve opted to not include any of these toys on this list, instead sticking to those that offer similar levels of functionality and price point.
If you’re interested in learning more about some of the dinosaur robot toys on the market, you can refer to our dinosaur robot buying guide instead.
At what age is an RC dinosaur toy a good gift choice?
There is no hard and fast rule for the best time to introduce a child to their first remote controlled toy—children develop at different rates, and it’s really going to depend on the child as to when they’re ready for this type of toy.
That said, from around 18 months kids are able to independently stand, walk, push buttons, and begin to develop an understanding of the relationship between the buttons they press and the actions that a toy performs as a consequence.
While 18+ months can be a good place to start, generally from the age of 3 most kids will have developed the fine and gross motor skills to be able to play with and fully experience what these types of toys have to offer, independently, without too much help from parents or older siblings.
It’s also important to note that it’s not just their ability to operate such a toy that matters, it’s also the risk of small parts that can pose choking hazards. This is why you generally won’t find any RC toys marketed as being suitable for children younger than 3 years old.
How much do remote controlled dinosaur toys cost?
While there is often a fair bit of variation in the price of remote control dinosaur toys, and RC toys in general, we wouldn’t recommend spending more than $40-50 on one—although, if you’re lucky to buy during a sale or promo, you can expect to get the same product for closer to $30-40.
When it comes to price, it’s important to remember that many of the brands that offer these products are merely resellers, and don’t actually design or make these toys themselves. Instead, they purchase them from third-party manufacturers and rebrand them.
This means that it’s worth shopping around for this sort of toy, as you’ll often find the same product from a different brand or seller on Amazon for a significantly lower price, especially if they’re a newer seller, with the exact same features and functionality.