Fancy an indoor helicopter

[Simpo Two]

I fancy an indoor helicopter, just to whizz about, scare the cat and practice daredevil landings on furniture etc. It needs to be small, idiot proof and carry a good charge - but I have no idea which is most suitable. Any recommendations please?

[HOGEPH]

[M400 NBL]

I've got an indoor helicopter that I find almost impossible not to crash.

My cousin also had similar one, and is much better at controlling it, but it always ends in tears..and parts needed.

He has since bought another. Much small and mainly made of polystyrene, so doesn't take nearly as much rotor/propeller speed to get it up in the air.

I can't be sure, but knowing my cousin it would have come from ebay.

[KieronGsi]

Just look up Twister Medevac they are very good



I have a Twister Skylift which is slightly too big for indoors but the spare are readily available and very cheap for when things go wrong.

[Mr Will]

For general fun and messing about, rather than a hardcore challenge, what you need is this:

http://www.johnlewis.com/230496762/Product.aspx?so...

Pretty much indistructable, easy to get the hang of and if you have a mate about, you can shoot each other down. What more do you need!

[dr_gn]

Simpo Two said:

I fancy an indoor helicopter, just to whizz about, scare the cat and practice daredevil landings on furniture etc. It needs to be small, idiot proof and carry a good charge - but I have no idea which is most suitable. Any recommendations please?

My first one was this:

http://www.heliguy.com/Electric-RC-Helicopters/ESK...

No problems at all with it. Very good model.

[Wanchaiwarrior]

Best to start of with a co-axial heli, such as the Esky mentioned before, also very piopular is an E-Flight Blade mCX S300 RTF, CX3 is a bit bigger.

See here for a couple of ideas http://hobby-hangar.co.uk/department/ready-to-fly_helicopters/

Its good fun though, a bit addictive.
I got one of these walkera sets http://www.ehirobo.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=334_90&products_id=6853

The Lamma2 is probably not as stable as an mCX s300 though.
4#3B is a fixed pitched heli and is a pig to fly for someone of my limited ability.

Do your research before buying

HTH

[Pot Bellied Fool]

I fancy one of these too

As ever, Amazon seem to have a selection if you just want to have a mess about.

The problem with the little toy ones is they've only got a few minutes flying time between charges.

I noticed a supplier had some sets of two with onboard IR detectors/emitters for dogfighting (get a 'hit' and the other engine cuts )

...I gotta get me a set for when the new retail counter opens, I don't care if they don't sell, I just want to play!

Ha! Found 'em. You might be able to find them cheaper but now I just need to persuade Senior Management to dogfight me!

[B Oeuf]

I got a picooz, it's a bh to do anything with other than hovering

[Simpo Two]

Thanks very much for the replies - I'll go through the links and see what looks most appropriate.

I don't know how limited my ability is (yet) - I may wish to be programming my collective on the second flight!

Oh, one more thing - some helicopters are £11, others are £65 - what's missing in the £11 one?

Edited by Simpo Two on Wednesday 2nd September 09:30

[dr_gn]

Simpo Two said:

Thanks very much for the replies - I'll go through the links and see what looks most appropriate.

what's missing in the £11 one?

Edited by Simpo Two on Wednesday 2nd September 09:30

The ability to control it to any reasonable degree.

[Roop]

dr_gn said:

Simpo Two said:

Thanks very much for the replies - I'll go through the links and see what looks most appropriate.

what's missing in the £11 one?

Edited by Simpo Two on Wednesday 2nd September 09:30

The ability to control it to any reasonable degree.

[dr_gn]

Roop said:

dr_gn said:

Simpo Two said:

Thanks very much for the replies - I'll go through the links and see what looks most appropriate.

what's missing in the £11 one?

Edited by Simpo Two on Wednesday 2nd September 09:30

The ability to control it to any reasonable degree.

Honestly. I started with a PicooZ, and it was OK for about an hour before developing incurable problems. At the best of times the lack of control was so frustrating, so I bought the ESky Lama. Looking at the Walkera 43 now.

[Roop]

dr_gn said:

Roop said:

dr_gn said:

Simpo Two said:

Thanks very much for the replies - I'll go through the links and see what looks most appropriate.

what's missing in the £11 one?

Edited by Simpo Two on Wednesday 2nd September 09:30

The ability to control it to any reasonable degree.

Honestly. I started with a PicooZ, and it was OK for about an hour before developing incurable problems. At the best of times the lack of control was so frustrating, so I bought the ESky Lama. Looking at the Walkera 43 now.

I have had a few PicooZ helis and sometimes they last longer than others. Common is that the tail rotor motor burns out and just doesn't have the power to stop it spinning round. They are still ace fun.

For quality and the ability to fly out-of-the box with no problems you can't beat the E-Flite Blade CX2/CX3 Superb pieces of kit.

[dr_gn]

Roop said:

dr_gn said:

Roop said:

dr_gn said:

Simpo Two said:

Thanks very much for the replies - I'll go through the links and see what looks most appropriate.

what's missing in the £11 one?

Edited by Simpo Two on Wednesday 2nd September 09:30

The ability to control it to any reasonable degree.

Honestly. I started with a PicooZ, and it was OK for about an hour before developing incurable problems. At the best of times the lack of control was so frustrating, so I bought the ESky Lama. Looking at the Walkera 43 now.

I have had a few PicooZ helis and sometimes they last longer than others. Common is that the tail rotor motor burns out and just doesn't have the power to stop it spinning round. They are still ace fun.

For quality and the ability to fly out-of-the box with no problems you can't beat the E-Flite Blade CX2/CX3 Superb pieces of kit.

I had 2 PicooZ's, the first got me hooked on indoor helis, so I can't complain. More recently, I thought I'd get another and give them another chance, but it was even worse than the first one.

My advice would be to put the money towards something a little bit bigger and has 'proper'controls that is tried and tested.

[Roop]

dr_gn said:

Roop said:

dr_gn said:

Roop said:

dr_gn said:

Simpo Two said:

Thanks very much for the replies - I'll go through the links and see what looks most appropriate.

what's missing in the £11 one?

Edited by Simpo Two on Wednesday 2nd September 09:30

The ability to control it to any reasonable degree.

Honestly. I started with a PicooZ, and it was OK for about an hour before developing incurable problems. At the best of times the lack of control was so frustrating, so I bought the ESky Lama. Looking at the Walkera 43 now.

I have had a few PicooZ helis and sometimes they last longer than others. Common is that the tail rotor motor burns out and just doesn't have the power to stop it spinning round. They are still ace fun.

For quality and the ability to fly out-of-the box with no problems you can't beat the E-Flite Blade CX2/CX3 Superb pieces of kit.

I had 2 PicooZ's, the first got me hooked on indoor helis, so I can't complain. More recently, I thought I'd get another and give them another chance, but it was even worse than the first one.

My advice would be to put the money towards something a little bit bigger and has 'proper'controls that is tried and tested.

Yeah, I guess it depends on what you plan to do though. If you want something to dick around with for a laugh then the PicooZs are all but disposable and great for that. For something more serious the E-Flites are perfect and a good step into proper r/c helis in that you can fly them outside when the wind's calm.

[dr_gn]

Roop said:

dr_gn said:

Roop said:

dr_gn said:

Roop said:

dr_gn said:

Simpo Two said:

Thanks very much for the replies - I'll go through the links and see what looks most appropriate.

what's missing in the £11 one?

Edited by Simpo Two on Wednesday 2nd September 09:30

The ability to control it to any reasonable degree.

Honestly. I started with a PicooZ, and it was OK for about an hour before developing incurable problems. At the best of times the lack of control was so frustrating, so I bought the ESky Lama. Looking at the Walkera 43 now.

I have had a few PicooZ helis and sometimes they last longer than others. Common is that the tail rotor motor burns out and just doesn't have the power to stop it spinning round. They are still ace fun.

For quality and the ability to fly out-of-the box with no problems you can't beat the E-Flite Blade CX2/CX3 Superb pieces of kit.

I had 2 PicooZ's, the first got me hooked on indoor helis, so I can't complain. More recently, I thought I'd get another and give them another chance, but it was even worse than the first one.

My advice would be to put the money towards something a little bit bigger and has 'proper'controls that is tried and tested.

Yeah, I guess it depends on what you plan to do though. If you want something to dick around with for a laugh then the PicooZs are all but disposable and great for that. For something more serious the E-Flites are perfect and a good step into proper r/c helis in that you can fly them outside when the wind's calm.

Yup. Guess what I'm saying is: if they got a bad PicooZ, it might put them off indoor helis for good, which would be a shame. If they got a good one, they may end up with a large collection of helicopters! From what I've read on forums, the PicooZ or its derivatives seem to vary wildly in quality and flying characteristics.

[Quick silver]

I noticed at the weekend that Maplins had quite a varied choice of model helo's on display, failing that: http://www.jperkinsdistribution.co.uk/ or eBay.

As long as you remember that you're only going to get what you pay for

[Holst]

Quick silver said:

I noticed at the weekend that Maplins had quite a varied choice of model helo's on display, failing that: http://www.jperkinsdistribution.co.uk/ or eBay.

As long as you remember that you're only going to get what you pay for

The main problem with the maplin ones is that its sometimes hard (or impossible) to find any spares.

I have a walkera 4#3B that I am very happy with.
As its a propper helicopter (only two blades) its difficult to learn to fly with but its very satisfying when you get the hang of it.
I would strongly recomend you buy the full brushless version from chinese jade, fast delivery and excelent service (I am not associated with him but he as helped me alot)
http://www.chinesejade.com/walkeraBL4M3_Heli.htm

Here is a youtube vid of me flying mine (this is after several weeks of practice)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HTjD5oePE8

If you can fly a 4#3B you can jump up to a larger outdoor heli without much difficulty at all.

[Emsman]

I would strongly suggest an e flite blade

They do two versions, an mcx and another like a Hughes 300.

Search on YouTube, great little things.

If you were to speak to rob at flyingwings and tell him Stuart told you about them, they will be around the £90 mark for the version complete with radio gear.

Mods- I'm not anything to do with flyingwings, just a loyal customer.