I used to have one that I would run in the creek all the time. I would take it up rapids and sometimes it would it would become completely submerged but it still worked. Also I bounced it off all kinds of rocks and nothing broke. It would be boring in a large body of water but I dont know of anything else that could take on rocks and rapids and also turn around in a creek only a few feet wide. I gave it away a couple of months ago because the creek is drying up in the summer but they do have a zig zag 2