OT : Air Hogs r/c heli

[jefffro007]

I was shopping online (Toys r us ) for a gift for my nephew and stumbled on these little heli's called Air Hogs . These things are great for indoor fun and cheap too ! I picked up mine for $19.99 ea . Before buying i read many reviews and this one made me go and get a few . Lol !!!!

[3 of 3 customers found this review helpful]

not too bad

By like a kid again from seattle, wa on 5/15/2008

Pros:Great toy for the price, Well Constructed, Durable

Consoesn't like wind, Difficult to Control, Short Range, Doesn't like bright light

Best Uses:Indoors, Teens, Older Children, Potential cat toy, Collecting

Describe Yourself:Education Oriented, Working Parent, First Time Parent, Collector

Bottom Line:Yes, I would recommend this to a friend

I bought one of these little things and now have 5. Wife was a bit upset, as it was for me. Thought I'd give it a little try. It's difficult to controll initially from the charge, but after a minute or two of flight, the battery sort of 'cools off' and makes it easier to controll. This is not a toy for someone with little or no patience. YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ZIP THIS AROUND WHERE AND HOW YOU WANT TO RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX.

It will take a while to master. Hovering is impossible right off of the charger as the gears seem to be either too powerful or too weak at first. Go very softly with the controlls and check the trim settings CONSTANTLY. As the thing goes it will need constant readjustment and this is completely normal.

The best thing to do, is first to try the up/down controlls until it is easy to hover. It will take a minute or two before it will hover easily. Then try to stop the spinning with the trim settings. It will move forward on it's own, and you can spin it left and right. It's only a 2 channel r/c so don't expect to have complete and total controll. It is very small and light, so it can not be flown outside as any little breeze will send it off into something. I put it on the roof trying to show off for some friends (fun for everyone EXCEPT the pilot being as that was not my plan and I don't like going up on the roof). This isn't for young kids or anyone with little or no patience as you will mess with it for a day or more trying to get it to act like a heli and not a broken insect. Great cat toy too. Our cats love mine, and they now have some authentic 'battle damage'.

Keep it away from table legs, walls, and corners as the rotor blades are fragile and do break easily. Keep it away from hair and check the rotors after EVERY crash because a little strand of hair wrapped around the motor shaft at the blades will really mess up the way it flies. I broke a tail rotor on the first day flying it into the garage door, lamp, a couple of extension cords, and finally the window jamb. All in one crash. If it looks like it's going down, just let go of the controlls and let it drop. Believe me, it will last longer. Take your time and once you learn how it likes to fly, it isn't that hard to controll. More power is not allways a good thing either. I landed mine on the top of a bookshelf when my wife bet I couldn't do it. There are plenty of videos on the internet too. Watched a guy land his on the blade of a cieling fan. I haven't been able to do that one yet, but I'm still trying. I've had our origional one for 3 months now and it's still going well. Only a little cat damage, but otherwise, still flies great. Having 3 or more means one is charging, one is ready to fly, and one is in the air. You can go for hours that way.

And last, watch out for some of the negative reviews on here about these. Yes they are difficult to controll, at first. Yes they can't really go outside. And the thing works on light like a remote controll for the cable or tv, so stay close to it or it will get a reflection off a wall and get confused. watch out for mirrors and windows as they will reflect the infared light comming from the red lense and confuse the heli. But with a little practice, you can learn what it can do and what it can't.

 

[Zach Davis]

I got a couple of these last winter. They are a lot of fun on those long winter nights.

Zach

 

[Bill Oxidean]

I picked one of the puppies up around thanksgiving..

I LOVE it!!! Really neat little gizmo, the little sucker entertained my entire family, even granny was captivated by it!!

Best 25 bux I ever spent, pretty indestructable too.. I must admit, I'm not too hot at controlling the pup..

 

[jetpack]

I've had mine for a year, and still play with it. The batteries in the controller last forever, and you get tons and tons of five to six minute flights on one set. I've been good about leaving it set for about fifteen minutes to let the lipo cool off before i throw it back on the charger. Still going strong.

Good mods are to pop off the linkage arms off the balance bar and bend the posts up a bit to take out any slack on the pivots. They should move free but with no slop.

Heat up a blunt nail over the stove holding it with a pliers and melt a small hole in the top of the nose, and use it for a ballast box for various sizes of split shot fishing sinkers capped off with a small piece of tape.

Dont use any oil on the mainshaft bushing, use dry lubricant. Oil will soften the contact cement holding the two halves of the ship together.

After every crash, be sure to blow on the tail blade to be sure theres no invisible fuzz dragging it down, or you'll chase the trim settings around forever until you pop off the blade and pull the wound up fuzz off the shaft.

Add tape to the bottom of the main rotor blade to balance it out. Trial and error till you get it right, but once its smooth it means a world of difference in flight time and control.

The mylar leaf bushing (old floppy disc material) on top the ship adds a lot of stability, and smooths out the vibs very well, quiets the whole machine down and keeps the backlashing out of the gears. I would choose this as the top mod of the whole deal. Worth the time and hassle it takes to make it. The drawing below is mine, and I used a small patch of double sided tape to mount it. Just use a small square on the end. It should float a little on the shaft, you dont want it rigid, just a slight ride is all it takes for it to work.

Twisting the tail rotor has a lot with how it handles also, the instructions go over that with you.

Put PVC thread protector caps over the sticks to make them comfortable.

You can take apart the controller and remove the spring in the throttle, but only do this if your good at cutting the throttle down quick if theres a problem, or the heli will thrash itself until you do.

Stay away from walls and ceilings, it has a nasty habit of sucking itself into them.

It's the best $20 I've spent on myself too. Jumped around like a little kid the first time I flew it, and now I can pretty much place it anywhere I want controlling it. It holds up good as a toy. Everyone I show cant keep their hands off it and have to go buy their own. Havoc's rule once you get good with them. I think they even got some kind of international toy award at one time.

Theres a bunch of people that have designed different bodies for it, and dress up kits like the stickers on the side that you can print out and cut and glue to make yours special over at RC Groups, along with the tips Ive shared plus a bunch of others that are more elaborate which I havent tried. Don't print out that body kit here, I dont know if its to scale, surf on over to RC Groups for the right one.

 

[jefffro007]

Wow !! Thanks for the info ! Ya got her lookin pretty SWEET !!! I'm gonna have to try some of those tips and tricks . These little heli's are great !!!!