I bought this toy for my son and myself, and I must say I have been well pleased with its construction, durability and functionality. The toy has taken a number of hard crashes into buildings, concrete, and trees -- so its tuff, damn tuff, but how well does it fly? Firstly, its more a powerful bird as compared to any of the small battery powered helicopters I have previously bought or seen. It flies high, > 100 feet and it needs a lot of space to really enjoy flying it. You can fly it in the backyard, but I find I spend more time worrying about crashing it into the house than really having fun.
The gyro's keep the copter level and provide pinpoint turning -- Meaning that It spins around while hovering in mid-air. The flight challenge is to keep the copter's hight steady, while moving the copter forward. Again, turning is not an issue, its balancing the hight and forward direction that is difficult. One reviewer mentioned that it will not fly forward or backward; however this is not the case. After a few days of practice both my 9 year old and I could pilot the copter reasonably well. I got about 15 minutes of flying time for every hour of charging. With the high learning curve this can make for some frustration. Is it worth buying??? Yeah, its fun, and my son and I got a big kick out of it -- especially at night as it lights up! But, personally I wondered if it may not be worth it to spend a little more money and buy a bigger copter that is easer to fly.
Bottom Line: This copter is fun, sturdy, will and may well satisfy your needs -- if you put some time in learning to fly it. Newest Model DH 9074 Model 3.5 Channel Metal Gyro RC Helicopter ---NEW!
First R/C helicopter I've ever owned -- not new to the R/C scene, though (and I have a good understanding of how real helicopters fly and operate). It took me a little getting used to (hence the "tough for beginners" comment), but easy to master (hence the "easy for intermediates" comment).
A lot of the other reviews have covered most of the issues -- here are my additional thoughts:
- Flies pretty well right out of the box -- constantly needs to be trimmed on the rotational axis and, as someone else noted, maintaining height/hover control is a bit challenging.
- The Quick/Slow toggle switch is good for controlling your speed indoors (use the Slow setting). I've yet to fly this outdoors (darned winter...mid-December 2010 as I write this), so haven't really tried the Quick setting. It does seem to fly noticeably quicker in the Quick setting.
- Only real negative that I've encountered so far (prevented this from getting a full 5-star rating in my book) is that the quality control is a touch lacking -- one of the wires soldered onto the On/Off switch came loose on the 2nd flight, requiring me to have to re-solder the wire (and asking for my wife's help, as it was really a 3-hand operation).
And it looks like I got a deal, the price seems to have gone up by about $20 since I bought it!
I am an adult and got this RC helicopter for myself this Christmas just to satisfy my own curiosity. From all appearances, it seemed to be a good RC helicopter for the price. Overall, after now testing some other more expensive helicopters, I'd say it's about worth the $50 I paid for it.
It was ready to go almost right out of the box. Just add batteries to the control and charge up the helicopter battery. It only took 3 or 4 flights to pretty much get the hang of it. It's pretty tough and durable, as I dropped it from very high up a few times, ran into some trees, the house, etc. on the first couple of flights.
So, it's really pretty easy to fly. The controls are not complicated. But what I learned is that it is not very maneuverable. It has very little forward (or reverse) power, regardless of whether you have the control in "quick" or "slow" response. And even the slightest breeze carries the this helicopter with it. So, most of the flying involves going up and down, and using the little bit of maneuverability it does have to avoid obstacles (like trees) as it moves with even slightest of breeze. (Forget about flying it on a day with anything above even a slight breeze). I also learned that this helicopter requires constant adjusting of the throttle, because it does not sit easily at one altitude. And, the battery life is long enough to have some fun, but not as long as it needs to be to really have a good experience.
Since I got this helicopter, I have tried a friends Blade brand helicopter. The Blade is so much better, it is like night and day. The Blade will stay in one spot with no effort. It is much, much more maneuverable. It has not just forwards and reverse power, but also side to side movement. Meanwhile, the Blade is so much lighter and, I assume, has a higher quality battery, so the flight time per charge is much, much longer. Then again, the Blade is twice as expensive. Glad to see that the price is reflected in a much better experience.
If you want an electric RC helicopter, my suggestion is to go ahead and put out the extra money and get a Blade model. You'll have a lot more fun.
Instructions are in broken English translated from Chinese. After first charge, followed instructions for first flight, helicopter flew up, hovered died mid flight then crashed to the ground breaking the rear rotor blade. Seriously flight lasted less than 5 minutes. Went to a hobby shop and bought a replacement rear blade. Went to install blade and rear engine actually fell off into my hand and severed wires. Its possible in every bunch that there is a lemon- apparently I got it. Contacted seller for help and received friendly customer service for which all they had to offer was for me to buy replacement parts....5 minutes of flight time ended in buying enough parts to practically purchase a whole new helicopter. Also purchased the Syma S107 and it rocks! - Gyro - Bait And Switch - Rc Helicopter - Helicopter'
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