RC Helicopters

I'm thinking about buying a remote controlled helicopter for my 18 year old son for Christmas. Fry's has a modest selection of reasonably priced models. I have never flown one myself, and honestly I want to get one for my son so I can play with it too . Does anybody here have any experience/advice on good models for novice/beginners or any input on the subject at all ? I've googled the subject, and haven't really found information that is relevant to my curiosity.
One thing I'm concerned about is spending $75 on a rc heli and having it crash and break on first flight . Fry's has some $30 models, but I just don't know if they are any good - I don;t even know if the $75 models are any good .
Any input is welcome.

btw- i'm not going to spend more than $100

 

Hi, I don't know much about them myself, but I also have an interest.

I found this site, which is pretty informative.

http://www.xheli.com/

Good luck.

 

I'd get an E-sky Lama its what I have,indoor only.The more indoor space you have the better.

Crashing and breaking is normal:-D He will crash it and it will break on the first day he flies it TRUST ME so include about 8 spare blades with your budget and if you can a spare battery,you get about 10 mins flight time for a 1 hour charge but that's up to you.

The best thing to do is to get the trainer cable which connects the the controller to your PC so he can practice first,these about $20-30.

Best place to shop for the cheapest price is Ebay,trusted online stores that ship from China,retail they are about $100 top end of your budget but they are worth it and have good spare part support, you can walk into any model shop and they will have spare parts for it behind the desk which speaking from experience is essential.

 

I don't know if they got any in that price range. But when I had a job I had some RC cars from www.hobby-lobby.com very fast and crazy fun.

 

That site I put up has quite a few beginner copters extremely reasonable:
http://www.xheli.com/3channels.html

I'm not too sure how my wifey would feel about me flying anything around indoors, so I would have to fly outdoors to minimize damage. :-D

 

Awesome. Thanks for the help !

 

I have flown friends before and even though they are very cool they can get expensive. He is very skilled at flying it and breaks them from time to time with hard landings or getting them stuck in places. Just make sure you don't fly it very high until you get the hang of it but they are fun and addicting to play with.

 

You might want to check into Air Hogs. Saw them at Target and Toys R Us carries them cheap.

If he takes to it, you can always upgrade and get him something else, if not, then not too much money wasted.

 

Funny story:

Years ago, my uncle was the head of the Computer Sciences department at Clemson University in South Carolina. His hobby/passion was building and flying balsa-wood aircraft (big old things, wingspans sometimes upwards of 10 feet, gas-powered engines, radio controlled). His favorite flying ground was the CU football practice field.

Well, a new university administration banned him (and others) from using the field. After much consternation, my uncle finally relented, but, from that day forward, no Clemson University football player ever passed a Computer Sciences course while he had tenure there!

Bwahahahaha!!! :heli :-D

Sorry for the hijack - couldn't resist!

 

I just bought 2 of these. 1 for my grandson and 1 for me. :heli

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250628391527&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

I'll let you know how it is after I play with it for a little. I'm thinking that I'll upgrade when the weather gets nicer and get something a little more serious.
But this will be good to learn on.

 

too funny :-d

 

RC plane, so a bit off topic, but it has a camera built in...


http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/Video/ViewVideo.aspx?vtp=1848&a=747477

 

Air Hogs has this helicopter out now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7THiSdQ-FI

It seems pretty cool.

 

Very cool. Thanks guys, now I'm going to have an even MORE difficult time choosing ! :-D

 

That's why I bought the ones that I did. Basic beginners and when rolleyes we wreck them, no big loss.

Think of it like buying your kid their 1st car. You want something that they can learn on, but something cheap enough that if and when they bust it up, it's not that big of a financial loss.

Back when I was learning to drive http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v713/b44t/starac.gif we all got disposable cars, so to speak.
We were just happy to have anything.
If you had $100, you could get wheels and if you had $200, you could get a set of wheels that the girls might actually ride in.

I remember a friend of mine saying "4 wheels beats 2 heals". http://www.web-smilie.de/smilies/auto_smilies_car_smiley/auto11.gif

 

oh for sure. JCPenny's (of all places) is advertising a model execuheli model for $19.99 so that may be a way to go to start the learning curve. Maybe within the year we could move on to those SUPER cool gas powered models ! (I can dream !)

 

Heres the execuheli in action
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVs_R9JudMw

Plus i have sitting in front of me a $10 Reward card from JCPennys, which means I could go down and get one right now for $10. Might have to do that today .

 

Looks like you should try that one. Funny, the song in the video was the theme to Airwolf. :-D

For $10, I would get one. Call it 'research'. :-D

 

Yeah, i'm thinkin real hard about it right now. Money's thin for me in the winter months . But I'm a kid at heart, and the fridge is full , so why not ? Right ?

 

We were looking for 1 more gift for my 7 year old grandson, so I mentioned a helicopter.
Since they were so cheap, I got myself 1 as well.

$32 for 2 and if they get busted up, no great loss.

If we actually master these things, we'll step up to something outdoors.

I'm actually homebound, due to illness, so I'll have plenty of time to play with mine before the nice weather sets in. :-D

 

Just got my Execuheli. I used that $10 gift card. The original price tag on the box is $40.00, they were on sale for $19.99, I handed over my $10 gift card, the cashier told me I owed her $6.48 . I asked no questions. rolleyes
It's pretty nifty, I'ts kinda hard to get a hang of controlling it but i managed to chase my dog with it for a minute :-D . It came with a bag of extra parts for the inevitable damaging crash happens, I got spare parts. The controller takes 6 AA batteries, and you charge the copter from the remote itself. Took it in the backyard (not much wind today) and managed to land it on the roof of the house, and then successfully lifted off from the roof, then proceeded to crash into a bush. (no damage) . Gonna take practice to get good at it !

 

Nice! How long does the charge last? I am tempted to get a RC 'copter. I have found some really elcheapo ones, but the battery charge only gives you 5 to 6 mins of flight time. Then a 30 min charge time.

 

Where's Stubby when we need him?

He'd probably build you one...

 

The manual claims 6-8 minutes of flight time on a 20 minute charge . Doesn't bother me much for a $6 purchase. I havent actually timed it though. And really, you can charge it, then just keep the copter switched off, and turn off the remote, and you're good to go whenever . If it's not too windy tomorrow, I'll take it to the park , although this particular model is made for indoor flight, it did fine in the back yard. I think a gymnasium would really be a perfect place for it.

 

I got my helis yesterday and it appears that I wasted my money. :crap
All they do is spin around in a circle and I can't even get them off the ground.

They are a little difficult to control and I can't imaging it would be too much fun for a 7 year old.

I'm going to have to do some quick research and find him something that is easy to fly and get it ordered fast.

I guess I goofed by buying the cheapest that I could find and not researching it further. :banghead

 

What kind did you get BigFK?

 

Hi Fred, I got 2 of these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250628391527&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

They just spin in circles. I have read and followed the instructions and they will get off the ground, but only enough to flip sideways.
I played with one and will just donate the other one to a local toy drive.
I know that may seem bogus, but beats tossing it in the trash.

 

Hmm, I was thinking about one of these, just for the heck of it. http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=RED-ODY4945D&cat=TOO

 

I just emailed these guys and told them that I need something for a 7 year old that is easy to operate. I let them know if the price is reasonable, I may buy 2 of them.
We'll see what they come back with.
http://www.hobbytron.com/RCHelicopters.html

 

The execuheli i got flies great. There are 2 "Trim" buttons on the remote to correct any spinning if you get some - one button corrects clockwise spin, the other will correct counterclockwise spin. If you are going to get that spin with this particular copter, you will know it when it is an inch off the ground and can easily and quickly correct it with the "Trim" buttons. At that point, you have complete and accurate control over it . It has never flipped sideways in air. I'm having fun with it, and while I am pretty careful with it, I haven't broken any part of it (yet) .

 

After fumbling around a little more, I got my heli off the ground, but decided that it's alot more trouble than it's worth.

I just ordered 2 of these:
http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/yhst-94582326164583_2132_67141965
http://www.xheli.com/sys0racoairw.html

We'll see how these work. Maybe I'll take a trip to the hobby shop when it get's warmer and I'm feeling up to it.

 

That one looks alot like my execuheli, except the flight bar on mine is in between the pair of rotors instead of on top . I bet you get better results with that one. Trust me when i tell you I'm having fun with mine, about 15 flights and the energizer batteries are showing no sign of weakening. AND I STILL haven't broken anything on it, even after a couple of nasty crashes in which I just KNEW at the moment something HAD to have broken - yet nothing did!

 

$15 each with free shipping. My wife asked how much I spent total and when I told her $60, she asked why didn't I just buy 2 $30 helicopters in the 1st place? :banghead

She seems to be right alot lately. rolleyes

 

Don't ever admit that to her ! :-D

 

Actually, admitting that she has been right allows me to spend more on toys. :-D

Lately, she has been urging me to spend a little more and get better quality.

Maybe she's hinting for jewelry for the holidays? :confused

 

Better start saving up, or get that second job of your dreams. :-D:-D

 

With everything that has been going on lately, I finally got the chance to take one of the new helis out and play with it.

Within a few minutes, I was able to get it successfully off the ground and spin it around the room.

Still need quite a bit of practice, but at least it was fun.

I may end up heading to the hobby shop in the spring and getting a bigger and better toy for outdoor use. :-D

 

I've been messing around with mine now every single day for at least one full flight. I like it alot. I STILL havent broken anything ! For $6, I'd have to say I got one heck of a deal. I did wind up getting one for my son as well and he loves his, too. The execuheli is a perfect model for beginners. Now if i only had the money for one of those really cool gas powered outdoor models . .. . . ..