Bought nine SYMA 3 Channel S012 Mini AH-64 RC Helicopters from Amazon.Com for 9 yr old nephew, three nieces, 8 yrs, 9yrs and 11 yrs, and 32yr old son (so the kids would go home with a helicopter that worked when they left). These helicopters are rugged!
They were also the star present from Santa. The four youngsters learned to fly them up, down, forward and back, hovering and diving, with the only grumble that they had to wait while they recharged. 9 yr old nephew took the rockets attached to the sides off as he found them too cumbersome and had it diving all over the place, coming round a corner to attack. My niece had it flying around evading a rolled up napkin nephew was using to attempt to bring it down. Helicopter dropped numerous times but they all went home in one piece. These little helicopters are solid. I know, I've bought them each Christmas for the past three years and had these kids crying when they left to go home with broken planes. Not this Christmas though.
So I gave the remaining four to my sister, sister-in-laws, and daughter's boy friend who weren't as tough on them as the kids but who had just as great a time with them. Army AH-64 Apache Mini RC Helicopter
I just stopped flying to recharge the batteries on the Apache. I bought this Helicopter not expecting much in the way of fun and durability. I figured at this price it would last a weekend and be off to the trash. Was I ever wrong. Not only have my boys and I learned how to fly with this helicopter we have bumped it into walls, ceilings and everything else in the house along the way. I thought that since it was so inexpensive it would be marginal with regard to flight controls but it is actually pretty good and we are having to fight over who fly's it next.
If you want to learn how to fly an RC Helicopter I think this is a great way to start. Highly Recommend!
Ordered on a Friday, received on Thursday. Toy has a bit of a learning curve -- could not imagine giving to a kid under 11 or 12, as its fragile body probably wouldn't last more than a couple flights (you run into a lot of walls and land pretty roughly your first couple tries). A blast once you get the hang of it, though. 15-20 minutes' charge gets you 5-6 minutes' flight, and three channels means you get up/down, left/right rotation, and forward/backward. Instruction manual is laughably translated to English, but intelligible. Seems to be a good ice-breaker for a serious RC copter.
I had gone through 3 different rc helicopters before I got the AH-64. I had two different Air Hogs, and a Propel one. This one is by far the best yet. The control is far superior. I have total control over it. I love this thing.
I was a little worried at first,
all this did was skip along the floor....
but I soon found out,
that it was due to the age of the batteries(even though they were "brand new")
now that I have changed the batteries.......
my frustration is that I can't get enough flying time,
to learn how to fly......LOL
Great Product, Great Seller...Will buy from them again.
Ken
I have a S107G 3ch coaxial helicopter. That one flies like a dream. But I wanted an Apache helicopter. This one is cheap and durable. I've crashed it many times without any problems. However, it is not as easy to fly since it does not have a gyro like the S107G. So expect to mess with the trim all the time. Even then, it's still fun to fly. Also, this one is tiny itty-bitty. It's about half the size of the S107G and is much much quieter.
I bought more helicopters so i could fly more often. It takes 45 minutes to charge the LiPo battery for 5-6 minute flight time. but i wish i bought another S107. Granted, there's a lot of technology here for a measly $17, but it just doesn't fly well. The S012 is in the air 15 seconds at a time before it hits something. My S107 will fly WELL for the entire 5-6 minute battery charge.
The contrast between this unit and my first helicopter( the Syma all-metal S107 ~$28) was so great that this one does not even merit one star. The S107 is much more stable and easier to fly. By far! The S012 spins wildly and is extremely difficult to maintain (any) direction. thus, there's no
way to fly it forward or backward because its spinning all the time. there's a control knob on the transmitter which is intended to balance the torque of both rotors, but it's just plain ineffective in this heli. the feature works perfectly in the S107. Another negative: the S012 has no skids, so if you have it take off from a surface (like carpeting) that is not perfectly level then the heli is pre-disposed to tip over or fly into something... which happens 90% of the time. And finally, my S107 came with a USB charging cable which saves the batteries in the transmitter. Now, if they only made a USB rechargeable transmitter ....
I have purchased a half dozen air hogs and this one is by far superior than any of their comparable products. It's more durable and instead of a trim button its a turn dial which stops the copter from spinning within the first 10 seconds of flight. I took it outside and my kids sent it twice as high as my 2 story house and let it drop to the grass a half dozen times w/o breaking. The "3D" controls allow you to actually make it go forward when you want or hover - far better than the cheap air hogs models deliver.
Bought this toy for my nephews 5th bithday. Thought he might have trouble with it, but after explaining how it worked he was off and flying! Many, many crashes later, it still worked fine. He even managed to land it in the punch bowl (completely submerged the heli), after pulling it out, puch still dripping out of it and all, it was still flying! Best purchase for less than $20! - Syma Rc Helicopter - Indoor Heli - Ah-64 - Syma'
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