Anyone fly or use one?? Im not talking about the thousand dollar, almost real ones. Just the little ones that I have seen for sale at all the malls this past Xmas. Are they any good for just playing around? I have seen them from anywhere from 30 bucks up to maybe 70 bucks. What do the 4 channel models do that the two channel models cant do? Just curious. Thanks, John

if you want to learn how to fly one try getting a basic style there are 4 grades for them i have the basic one that i am getting rid of if you would like it for 30 plus shipping i can take a photo of it tonight if you would like aswell, the basic ones are $56.00 to $200. the mid ones are $200 to $700 depends on remotes, the ones that are from $800 and up well they are made for people that have played with the other ones, the 2 channel ones are more for at home inside,. the 4 channel ones can go higher and you control them alot better.

and i painted it chevy orange

Thanks David...I sent u a PM

No, actually a PM would not go. I sent Email.

i bought an airhog heli for my daughters to play with...lots of laughs in the house, the dog attacks it. a really cool little toy..it was $60 at target. twin rotors, somewhat steerable..goes about 15 minutes of non stop use on one charge and is pretty tough...very light, rotor blades fold on impact and can come off (they are replaceable)..havent really had it outside much..i know it will go 30-40 feet high though, and is pretty easy to fly (my six year old can pretty well do it on her own).

The two channel ones you find in generic toy stores & department stores are mostly junk IMO. Yes, they fly, but they're very limited. You get blade RPM on one channel (controlling height) and tail rotor control on the other (controlling yaw.) The heli has an off-center CG so it is always moving forward and all you can do is control the yaw direction to turn it. Basically, you're always moving forward and can only control altitude & heading, so you can fly circles or figure eights. You can't stop. Really not all that much fun and not at all what I would consider "controllable." No backing up, no sideways flying, no pirouettes, no choosing a flight path and then trying to do it all while keeping the nose pointed in only one specific direction, etc.

A good beginner *real* heli (meaning standard full controls) would be a Hirobo XRB, Axe EZ, or Blade CX2. These are contra-rotating twin rotor helis and are nice and stable for beginners but still replicate the control behavior & functionality of more advanced models so you can still learn all the basics.

A standard heli with a north american mode 1 transmitter is like this:

left stick up and down controls rotor rpm and/or blade pitch (i.e. climb or descend)
left stick right & left controls yaw (spins about main rotor axis)
right stick up & down changes blade pitch via swashplate for forward & reverse flight
right stick left & right changes blade pitch via swashplate for sliding left & sliding right

Of course, on collective pitch aerobatic models things get more complicated as the left stick also controls blade pitch linked with the throttle allowing for inverted flight or other more advanced aerobatics; it changes the blade pitch and directs the thrust upwards. This can be used to decend rapidly, hover inverted, perform loops & rolls, etc.

All the controls exert some influence on each other. For example, foward/reverse/sideways flight requires power so altitude drops correspondingly. So you have to feed in more blade pitch/rpm via the left stick to maintain altitude. To perform a basic coordinated turn requires rudder (yaw) input, side-slide input, and forward input, plus additional main rotor power to maintain altitude.

Once you get good at the basics with a twin-blade heli then you can upgrade to a collective pitch heli and start crashing the more agile and expensive collective pitch birds.

There are also fixed-pitch single rotor helis. They aren't as stable as a twin-rotor heli, but they are much more stable than a collective pitch (aerobatic) heli. An example would be a Venom Night Ranger.

I have a Blade CX2, Axe CP-L, and I'm going to be buying a TREX 450 very shortly.

The CX2 ($190) is a wonderful beginners heli as it's twin rotor and is very stable, but you can still do everything with it short of inverted flight and more advanced aerobatics. Even then it's still a ton of fun and can be pretty safely flown indoors. I like flying mine up and down the stairs between the 1st and 2nd floors and also play weave-through-the-hedges outside with it when the wind is calm. It's stable enough that after a minute talk and explanation of the controls that I can usually hand the controller to a total beginner and they can hover it and move it fairly confidently within a couple of minutes. On the other hand if I gave them the controls to my AXE CP (aerobatic) they would probably flip it over in less than 5 seconds and destroy the head & blades... because that's what I did the first time. Worlds apart in capability and stability. If you let off the right stick on the twin-rotor it will self-stabilize and go into a hover within a couple of seconds. If you let off the right stick on a collective pitch single rotor it will continue to move and accelerate in the original direction of travel (or breeze) until you correct it or it hits something. There is no inherent stability with the single rotors.

There are also simulators available, which are a good idea before going to a collective pitch aerobatic heli... that way you can practice the aerobatics and crash the heli in the simulator before you goof up in real life and cost yourself more money.

Oh, and you WILL crash. Which is why I recommended one of the hobby store twin rotors; you can easily get parts for them, they are easily fixable, and the typical crash parts (flybar, blades, skids) are usually inexpensive. For example, when I clip a hedge with my Blade CX2 I usually break rotor blade(s). They're $1 each and can be swapped in a minute. I have crashed the thing numerous times typically because I fly it outdoors in breeze conditions that I shouldn't be and it gets overpowered (it's only 8 oz!) and shoved into a stationary object, sometimes quite hard. All I have broken so far is blades, 1 flybar ($6), and skids ($4). I'd say my average crash with the CX2 costs $2 as it's usually only a blade or two.

On the other hand, a relatively minor "oops" on my AXE CP usually costs me a blade or blades, blade grips, flybar links, and rotor head... it's usually $25-30 every time I have an "oops" with the large more expensive aerobatic Axe. It's also far easier to crash as it is VERY unstable and "twitchy" in the air.

Thoes little $29 ones are a hoot! They have a very limited range (like 20 ft or so) and they are finnicky to fly, but they're cheap, and they're fun. It's a blast to fly in circles around my wife when she's trying to watch TV or talk on the phone. :D

FYI, the newer cheapy ones (Radio Shack, etc) now have seperate forward/reverse fans as well, and should work pretty well.

The "real" ones (I've tried a few) can get expensive to learn on. The most fun one I had was also the cheapest, at $250 or so - it was also pretty durable for the significant number of crashes it took.

I think it was called the dragonfly, and it no doubt has better electronics now than it did 2+ years ago.

My wife bought 8 airhogs at the flea market for $15.00 each most were christmas presents but I snagged a few of them, good thing I did because my dogs like to eat them:yes::D
I managed to fly one into the shower while wife was in their, hehe She thought I was videoing here for some reason, LOL

I think I saw it on youtube;)

My son got a cheap one for Christmas. It goes up 40-50 feet and will turn but wont go forward. That rascal flew 100 yards and I finally set it down to chase after it. Thought it was me. I had a friend who flys model planes try. He said it needs another control not just throttle and tail rudder but a forward attitude control.