Recommendation for r/c helicopter

[RogerS]

I was at the Air Tattoo at Fairford yesterday and saw a tiny helicopter on display for £30. Seemed indestructible. Guy flew it into the metal supports of the stand and although it crashed, a few bursts of power and it self-righted and carried on flying. Nearly bought it.

Mentioned it to SMBO on my return and she said 'Christmas Present'

But a quick Googling shows that this helicopter (a) appears to be infra-red so maybe not so good outside and (b) only costs £15.99....so maybe this might be too entry level ? So any experts out there? What should I go for? I think the £3995 jobbies are out of frame

 

[PeterBassett]

I father in law has a couple of the same type so he always has one that is charged up. Good fun indoors but useless outside.

 

[RogerS]

I father in law has a couple of the same type so he always has one that is charged up. Good fun indoors but useless outside.

Is that because they are too small and easily thrown off course by wind? OR the IR doesn't work outside~?

 

[bugbear]

I was at the Air Tattoo ... on display for £30....quick Googling... only costs £15.99

Typical show "offer".

BugBear

 

[JustBen]

The IR signal gets distorted with the IR given off from the sun.

This gives the helicopter a life of its own.

They are susceptible to the wind but its mainly the sun's IR output.

A lot of fun though.

 

[Sheptonphil]

Keep mine charged in the computer in the office and fly it through the dining room. Even sunlight streaming through the patio doors can cause a wobbly, although they are so light crash damage is negligable ( no Ming vases in our house).

Really annoys the dog

You can get outdoor electric ones that don't cost a bomb and run off radio rather than IR

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FXDFS-Flame-S ... 792wt_1170

Phil

 

[AES]

Benjimano is right. The IR control doesn't like strong sunlight (actually it's more a case of the differences between direct sunlight and the shadows thrown by trees, etc), but also, being very small and lightweight they are affected by every little puff of wind, and they do not have enough power to "penetrate" direct into wind either, so end up being swiftly driven down wind in anything above the lightest of breezes.

BUT note also that these IR helos can also be badly affected by some indoor IR sources such as TV remotes, etc.

But if model helos interest you, you can easily buy a small helo with "proper" Radio Control which is not so affected, AND given a FLAT CALM, (if such a thing ever exists in UK) they can be flown outdoors quite successfully. You don't need to spend £3,999 either (you couldn't fly such a thing straight off anyway) with the budget for such a thing starting at about £50-£60 all in. But be warned, this is even more of a slippery slope than woodworking will ever be (I think!) with LOTS of money being swallowed up with improved batteries, chargers, rotor heads, blades, gyro stabilisers, etc, etc.

If you're seriously interested, even at just the "toy/messing about for fun" end of the market and don't want to waste squadrillions of hard-earned notes (easily done) then find your local model aero club and go along one night or weekend for a bit of advice, or find a good local model shop (NOT a toy shop). If you PM with with where you are I can probabably put you into contact with someone.

Best of luck
AES

 

[RogerBoyle]

Indoors or outdoors ??

Are you looking for the toy type or a proper RC Helicopter ??

Before you buy one from the bay or anywhere else you need to check the control frequency
It needs to be 27Mhz , 35Mhz or 2.4 Ghz
anything else and its illegal

 

[RogerBoyle]

Aldi will have the toy type for sale from the 28th https://www.aldi.co.uk/en/specialbuys/s ... elicopter/
Last time I had one it was on 27MHz

 

[Reggie]

I've always fancied a quadcopter myself.

 

[Mark Hancock]

Roger

I've got one of those little £30 ones. They are great for indoors but not recommended for outside.

The thing you have to watch it getting spare blades. A lot of the cheap ones on the market are just that cheap copies of the more established makes but quite often you can't get the correct rotor blade replacements. I'm on my second one now - both Xmas presents - and again I can't find a supplier of the spare blades.

I seem to recall there being a great web site that details the established makes which give some good advice and opinions on what is out there - sorry I didn't bookmark it after finding it through google

 

[Gerry]

Not a heli but check out the Hubsan X4 quad copter
You should pick one up for about £30 but buy an extra battery too. It flies just like my 500mm quads and works well outside.

Gerry

 

[[email protected]]

+1 for a quad.. nice and stable easy to fly.

 

[defsdoor]

Blade mcpx - awesome to fly and resistant to damage. The first version can be had quite cheap.

 

[Reggie]

They're doing some fantastic work with quads these days:
the autonomous control that the quads have is pretty insane
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... vRTALJp8DM
and their swarm/drone capabilities are impressive too
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBsJwapanWI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sUeGC-8dyk

There are loads of hobby projects out there involving quads, some really impressive FPV setups, others with camera gimbles to produce very professional looking hd 'fly-by' video footage.

 

[RogerS]

Blimey...I can see what AES meant by a 'slippery slope' !

 

[Gerry]

I have a couple of 500mm Quads. My main one uses Wharthox carbon fibre centre plates, 250mm aluminium arms, and a crius flight controller with GPS using Megapirate software.
It is capable of pre-planned missions with way points and waiting intervals. It will return to it's launch location and auto-land on demand. It is also possible to program them to follow you as if on a leash using an additional radio link.
Obviously your talking a "bit" more money here but it's not as bad as golf" You can put a quad together like this for about £250-300 including the radio gear and battery/charger

Have a look at www.multi-rotor.co.uk if your interested

Gerry

 

[Chrispy]

Or you could get one of these!

Look closely....................Incredible

Is this a mosquito? No. It's an insect spy drone for urban areas, already in
production, funded by the US Government. It can be remotely controlled and
is equipped with a camera and a microphone. It can land on you, and it may
have the potential to take a DNA sample or leave RFID tracking
nanotechnology on your skin. It can fly through an open window, or it can
attach to your clothing until you take it in your home. Given their
propensity to request macro-sized drones for surveillance, one is left with
little doubt that police and military may look into these gadgets next.


(And to think we were worried about West Nile virus!)


And now you know why our (the US) government has requested the law be changed to
allow drone surveillance in the United States...

 

[Harbo]

Over the years I've bought two helicopters at shows that appeared to be easy to fly - but with me no such luck!
One I tried just a lift off in the kitchen which went disastrously wrong and smashed up a few things!
Tried another outside which smashed into trees!

If you are a beginner make sure they are very, very easy to fly?

Rod

 

[Gerry]

http://www.snopes.com/photos/technology/insectdrone.asp

Typical paranoid american ********!

It amazes me how people can read this rubbish and take it on face value then perpetuate it by repeating it. I see posts like this day after day, 30 seconds on Google will show whether it's real or not.

Gerry