$30 walmart RC helicopter

[Aaron1100us]

I have seen those little tiny foam helicopters made by Air Hogs (havoc heli) that are at Wal Mart and thought that was a neat idea but doughted that they could really fly for more than a few seconds. I was looking the other day on yYu Tube and found a video of someone flying one around a room and I couldn't believe it. So I had to get one and try it out myself. Kinda cheesy looking but neat at the same time. Made out out foam and plastic with two tiny tiny tiny tiny electric motors and a 3.7 volt LiPo pack that charges off the remote. Started out flying for about 5 seconds and kept crashing. It kept wanting to spin in circles and crash uncontrolably. The controler has up/down (throttle) and left/right. I finally figured out that by turning to the right all most all the way kept it from spining in circles, especially when trying to go up. The torque of the blades could cause it to spin so turning it to the right would keep it sort of straight. I crashed the thing about 50+ times trying to figure it out and haven't broken a single thing on it yet. It comes with some aluminum stickers that you can put on the front to help give it a little forward motion which I did and it sort of works. Very slow forward motion and that is good. Any, I mean any breeze at all will make this thing float/blow away. Even the air from the vents can cause problems if it gets too close. I've finally figured out how to fly this little thing and have had lots of fun with it. They last about 5-6 minutes on a charge and charge in 30 minutes off the remote. Took it to work the past two nights and had a blast. Now, I need to convince my wife that I need a real R/C helicopter Probably the best $30 I've ever spent on a toy.

 

[jph]

My dad has a "real rc heli" and a air hog and some other small inexpensive chopper.
Ever sience he bought the cheap helicopters the carbonfiber 3d chopper gets no flighttime. He says the little ones are more fun (can't chase the cats with the big one)
and much more easy on the pocketbook.

 

[Fallingwater]

The Havoc is a knockoff clone of the real thing, the Silverlit Picoo Z. The two are functionally identical.
There are a multitude of threads about the little thing over at RCGroups... the official one is this one, but a search for "picoo z" will give a lot more.

Anyway: I have it too and am in the process of reviewing it for my website (along with an X-Twin foam plane). It's great fun, but not very intuitive to control...

If you're looking for proper RC helicopters, have a look at the Walkera 5#4. If you need a really really tiny proper helicopter, the newly released Walkera 5#6 is approximately the size of the Picoo Z, but has full 4-channel control. There's the 5#5 too, which is inbetween the two size-wise.

 

[Trashman]

I've also been thinking about getting one of these little helicopters. The one I've been looking at was first seen in one of the magazines I subscribe to. I *think* it was in Popular Mechanics. It's called the Micro Mosquito. I see they're sold at Radio Shack for about $70, but there are ones on eBay that look identical and can be had for around $40. Does anybody know if they're actually the same 'copter? Here:

RS: http://www.radioshack.com/sm-indoor-micro-mosquito-rc-helicopter--pi-2255015.html

eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/BRAND-NEW-RC-Mi...0096761755QQcategoryZ2563QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

There's also an 80 page thread about it on RC groups: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=515376

Anybody have any thing to say about it?

I'm also curious about the Walkera 5#6.

 

[geepondy]

It sounds like there is a learning curve for all of the RC helicopters and broken components the price to pay along the way.

 

[Alin10123]

Having to give her a little nudge in one direction when you torque up the throttle is normal.

 

[Fallingwater]

Does anybody know if they're actually the same 'copter?

Yeh, it'd seem they are the same. I'd get it on eBay if I were you.

It sounds like there is a learning curve for all of the RC helicopters and broken components the price to pay along the way.

It depends on what model you have.

If you have a tail-rotor helicopter that isn't a Picoo Z (or one of its ilk) then yes, learning to fly it isn't very easy and you should expect a lot of broken blades and trimming and adjusting and whatnot.

If, instead, you have a coaxial such as the Walkera 5#whatever, then it's much easier to learn and, provided you don't do anything stupid such as switching off the transmitter before the helicopter (ahem), all you should ever have to replace are a few blades.

As for the Picoo Z, it's pretty much indestructable. I've crashed it more times than I can remember, and all it needs to get back in the air is to be repositioned the right way up.