These things are FUN!! Forgot a few of my favorites: Me dive bombing the pops: Pops & the nephew watching: Me flying. lolz:
That's my dad's, too. At least they're damn near indestructible. And if I do manage to break something (and I have), Hub Hobby's got replacement parts and no single part is more than about $5. I personally found it easy to get the hang of, but I'm nowhere near as precise at maneuvering it as my pops is.
Yeah, my son had one like this a couple years back, but my parrot dive bombed it and destroyed it within seconds:laugh: Wish I had video footage of the attack.
My kids got one for Christmas, I usually end up with the coolest toys after they start leaving them around the house. LOL This one looks different then mine. I'd be interested in knowing how yours is able to turn without a tail rotor. Do you have any pictures of the controller? And how long does yours take to recharge?
No, the ones in Rob and Big are much larger and more expensive. And they just destroyed them..........
I had a Micro Mosquito like this but it was on top of my dresser and my cat laid on it and wrecked the wings. Now I have a little $15 one I bought off of woot.com. The micro mosquito was pretty maneuverable after I taped a penny to the front end of it. It drives my dogs NUTS!!
They are the same company as the ones on Rob and Big IIRC and the price between the mini and the small is not that different maybe 20-30 IIRC.
The controller is beefy. Its counter-rotating blades, so it simply varies the speeds of the blades relative to each other to spin - and it can spin VERY nimbly and quickly. It adjusts the pitch of the blades to bank left and right, and I believe it uses a combination of pitch and speed variations to travel forward and backwards. Its a slightly more expensive unit - $100 for the copter, $130 for copter + 4 channel controller - the link 'n fly or something. Batteries take maybe 15-20 minutes to charge and get a good 5-7 minutes of continuous flight. They last through a couple dozen charge cycles at least. The charger runs on 4 AA non-rechargeables, but we're about to convert it to a wall-wart and see how that goes. Its an extremely stable and durable little bird, IMO. I wrecked that thing a crap load and worst I've done is break the stabilizer bar twice ($5) and the clips that hold it in once (inner shaft - $5).
Its stable enough that I can hover in front of my GF's face and spin it around and whisk her hair with the tail. Then land it smack down right in the center of the top of her head. Once the trim adjustements are properly set you can quickly and easy place it in a single spot mid-air and lay the controller down and absent of wind gusts (you never knew how drafty your house was until you fly on of these around) it'll sit in one spot not moving an inch in the air until the battery runs down.
is the micro version 4-channel? most small ones are just 2, which is annoying, I've got a couple of the extremely small $10 infrared ones. I've got a micro mosquito that's 3. and a full-size Blade CX that is 4. just when you think you're comfortable with it.....turn the ceiling fan on. that's when it get's really fun.
Yes, 4 channel. My dad actually has a 5 channel e-flite controller that he got with a larger helicopter, though. Home page: http://www.e-fliterc.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=EFLH2280
How? I've smashed that one into numerous walls and other things in my way (people, lol). It takes an impressive amount of abuse. The only thing you can do wrong - as I've been told - is to continue to apply input to the controller cause then the circuit board on the copter burns out trying to source too many amps to the servo motors when they're physically unable to move. I've broken a couple plastic pieces - but like I said, Hub Hobby has basically every single part for it for about $5 (except the circuit board - the expensive part).
^ and the Mosquito's half the price of the E-Flite Blade MCX, btw. I'd actually be interested in trying some of the cheaper ones. I've been told they just don't compare, and my experience with the MCX have left me very impressed. I wonder how the $20-$50 ones compare?
It seems that the range on the radio is usually farther than you can see to safely fly them. Not sure how well the micro's would hold up outdoors. Bigger ones resist the air currents better.
my uncle and I were curious about the range on the full-size Blade CX. we went as far as we dared, with zero problems. although, outside you really don't want to get it too far away, as they're so sensitive to the slightest gust. the cheaper ones really are no comparison. in control or durability. the little $10 infrared 2-channel ones I have are terrible to control, and WHEN you crash into something, the drive pins (plastic) on the main shaft shear off, and you've got nothing. I've been fairly impressed with the mosquito. and it allows some decent control since it is 3 channel. and a spare parts pack is (was?) less than $10 at RadioShack. I wonder if the 5-channel is for the CP. as that has one main rotor and a tail rotor just like a real heli, and is capable of inverted flight!!
I actually got the micro mosquito off of ebay for $35 so it wasn't too bad. Also, some of the cheaper ones fly alright. The $50 air hogs reflex one is pretty easy to control and the good thing is that they have a much smaller learning curve then the expensive ones.
$5 could get you some gas to pour on it and some roman candles to shoot at it to burn that mother to the ground. So yes, $5 will fix that!!
Depends what's actually broken. For example, those servo motors are only $5. Only part that isn't is the circuit board. hahaha
