R/C Helicopter

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edstrom76

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The OH's uncle wants to treat my boy to a helicopter for Christmas. He's seen a 15" one , apparently "almost indestructible" with 3.5 channel control system (no idea what that means). It's £80, does that sound reasonable? Or is there a deal to be had elsewhere e.g. eBay? My knowledge in this field is very limited so I'm putting my trust in the powers of the forum!
 
The OH's uncle wants to treat my boy to a helicopter for Christmas. He's seen a 15" one , apparently "almost indestructible" with 3.5 channel control system (no idea what that means). It's £80, does that sound reasonable? Or is there a deal to be had elsewhere e.g. eBay? My knowledge in this field is very limited so I'm putting my trust in the powers of the forum!

No such thing as an "almost indestructible" heli plus £80 is too much to pay for a first heli.

He needs to stick with a micro coaxial helicopter that he can fly in the house.

Coaxial means the helicopter will have 2 sets of blades and the blades are counter rotating to create lift.

Search the web there are dozens for sale for around £20.

Learning about heli's is a minefield.

Have a look at the following link for more details about heli's.

http://www.rchelicopterfun.com/coaxial-rc-helicopters.html

PS. Just read your post about him being two....mmm mmm.

Having said that check out 4 yr old Justin.....insane.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLQhU1cKkx0
 
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I agree with Mr. B.
The small twin rotor helicopters are easy to fly, are pretty much indestructible and are great for indoor use.

I have a small 9 Eagles Solo Pro, which was around £80. It has a single rotor and fly-bar, so it looks more like a real helicopter, but is still easy to fly indoors as it is only 8inches long.

Terry
 
We bought Baby D a Symo coaxial helicopter (£20 ebay) for his birthday last year and it has never worked. Took it to the tip on Sunday, to make way for...

...a Symo Chinook (£16 ebay) which a loose lipped elf told me has been earmarked for Baby D this Christmas. Hopefully this one will work...
 
As others have said, get a co-ax at the lower end of the market and take things from there. The co-ax can teach you a lot of the basics of control, yet are easy to fly and repair. Try and buy a model for which spares are readily available - you'll need them!
 
I can offer a little more advice on this as it is what I do for a living.

Firstly there is no such thing as a indestructible rc helicopter they will all break when they hit the ground. What you can get is a model that is designed to be flown by a beginner and therefor the parts that are normally broken in minor crashes are made out of a more resistant material, what this does do though is effect the flying so the model generally does not fly as well or at all. A lot of product that is on the market does not fly and will generally end up in the bin as frustration takes over.

We do a whole range of models that will take you from an absolute beginner through to a very competent flyer and i would be very happy to help advise anyone on what to look for.

With RC being our main interest and having some very well respected people working here we are only interested in keeping people progressing so don't get involved in the toy type model and make sure that everything we offer flys and will progress your flying. This does not mean that you can not get a good value model as our lowest priced contra rotating model is under £20.

Nowadays the easiest way in to model flying particularly hovering flight are quad copters. These use multi axis gyros that make the model very easy to fly and are a very good way of learning what the sticks do and understanding the effect they have on the model. They are also excellent fun. X200 Quadcopter would be my suggestion.

The main advice I always give to people is to make sure you are buying from someone who can support you after the initial hand over of your hard earned cash. There are lots of box shifters but very few will help you when you are stuck and even fewer who will offer spare parts, you will need spare parts!

Dean
 
Wouldn't let him drive, that's for sure, he'll be three in February. Just seen this on Maplin: Weccan 4CH App Controlled Helicopter : Remote Controlled Air : Maplin Electronics - it can be controlled by smartphone app etc.

Well, if he is nearly three, he certainly won't want an RC helicopter, he will want:

An XBox1, with Call of Duty, Fifa Soccer, a large screen tv to play it on and a year's subscription to Sky Sports Also a good bottle of single malt with some chocolate liqueurs.

I should know as that's what my 3 year old daughter got last Christmas.
 
As a long-time r/c flier with a young son (5 now) I would suggest a car rather than a helicopter ... that will be more than enough for a 2 year old to handle.

We got my son one from ELC that is robust and not too fast, and also works in water. He's now learning to fly a co-ax heli and a slow fixed-wing model (both at the weekly indoor flying sessions I go to).

My step sons (11 & 13 now) have been given various infra-red 3 channel helis as presents over the last couple of years and they've given up with them after a couple of flights.
 
Thanks for the advice given so far everyone! Not decided what to do yet, but I must admit it does seem a bit daft to spend £80 (even though it's not coming out of my pocket) on something that might not get much use due to it being to difficult.
 
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Thanks for the advice given so far everyone! Not decided what to do yet, but I must admit it does seem a bit daft to spend £80 (even though it's not coming out of my pocket) on something that might not get much use due to it being to difficult.

So what did you do?

...a Symo Chinook (£16 ebay) which a loose lipped elf told me has been earmarked for Baby D this Christmas. Hopefully this one will work...

We fired this bad boy up today and there's been a queue waiting to have a go all day on. Great fun, but quite tricky!
 
No such thing as an "almost indestructible" heli plus £80 is too much to pay for a first heli.

He needs to stick with a micro coaxial helicopter that he can fly in the house.

Coaxial means the helicopter will have 2 sets of blades and the blades are counter rotating to create lift.

Search the web there are dozens for sale for around £20.

Learning about heli's is a minefield.

Have a look at the following link for more details about heli's.

Micro Coaxial RC Helicopters. Helis For Everyone!

PS. Just read your post about him being two....mmm mmm.

Having said that check out 4 yr old Justin.....insane.

4 Year Old Justin Jee - RC Heli Stick Movement - Sep 2006 - YouTube

check him out age 7

[YOUTUBE]JHJs1gBLiuQ[/YOUTUBE]
 

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