# What was this toy I had as a kid?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-toy-i-had-as-a-kid/528172>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 8, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-toy-i-had-as-a-kid/528172 "2010-02-08T18:51:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-toy-i-had-as-a-kid/528172/1 "2010-02-08T18:51:14Z")

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I think I was around 11 years old when my parents gave me an extremely fun device. The best description I could give of it was that it was a very small directional microphone. You would point it in the direction of what you wanted to hear, and the sound would be amplified. It worked _really_ well - like, if people were whispering all the way across the yard, you could point it at them and understand what they were saying. It had a jack that a pair of headphones plugged right into; the microphone itself was small enough to be concealed in the hand.

What was this exactly? Browsing on eBay there are a lot of directional microphones but most of them are much bigger and fancier than this thing that I remember. Was there ever a small, children’s version of it made - sometime around 1997?

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-toy-i-had-as-a-kid/528172/2 "2010-02-08T18:57:54Z")

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[Something like this](http://www.onlineoutletstoreprices.com/Products/001SOUND_RECEIVER.html)?

I’ve seen similar devices in ‘spy kits’ at such places as The Discovery Store and National Geographic Store. Sometimes they come in ‘spy kits’.

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**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-toy-i-had-as-a-kid/528172/3 "2010-02-08T19:05:28Z")

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That seems similar, although I think mine was smaller. I think it did have a trigger like that one, though, although I can’t remember if there was a dish-shaped thing around it. That thing is pretty inexpensive; I may have to order one!

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**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-toy-i-had-as-a-kid/528172/4 "2010-02-08T19:23:47Z")

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What you probably had was some sort of parabolic mike like **Johnny** linked to.

If you want something not quite so obvious, try [this](http://www.shopwildplanet.com/prod/WPT70128.html).

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**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-toy-i-had-as-a-kid/528172/5 "2010-02-08T21:52:25Z")

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Are you thinking of the [Whisper 2000](http://www.householdgoods.com/images/whisper-two-thousand.jpg)?