Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have flown a LOT of R/C planes. Gas, Electric, Glider. I own an embarrassing amount of coaxial helis. This beats them all - No joke. You should know - I suck at flying helis. Badly. I fly them all the time in the Realflight Sim (Excellent BTW), and it ends in tragedy and disaster. Every time. Every. Time. I'm fairly good at flying coaxial helis, however. Pretty much anyone with a pulse would be. I think you could manage if you are missing an arm. They are fun for poking around the house at about 1ft/sec top speed, they will hover while you make yourself a sandwich, and supreme at playing 'what can I land on' games (The Syma 107 cannot be beat for that). I have some big ones for flying outside. They are terrible outside. I want to fly outside... Then I read glowing reviews about the v911. Beginners love it, CP Snobs sneer at it. Perfect. For under $50 I was in. When I got it in, I was concerned. The Syma 107 I have has taken a severe beating, but never broke - It is made of metal, you see. This is not. It is a tiny bit bigger, but so light, graceful, and incredibly delicate looking. I was pretty sure I'd get one short flight before it was annihilated. The radio it came with is AWESOME. I think I could bind it to my Spektrum DX6i, but forget it. This thing is perfect. No ratchet on the throttle - but it STAYS where you put it. Digital trims. IT SHOWS YOU WHERE THE TRIM IS ON THE SCREEN! So nice. It shows stick position, and an adorable lil helicopter whose blade speed matches the throttle position. The LCD is even backlit. I cannon imagine why, but it is. I have never gotten a nicer remote in an RTF - Usually they are klunky or junky. Sometimes both. This thing looks like it is worth the $50 by itself! IMPRESSED! It came with 2 batteries. I cannot explain the awful that is waiting for an R/C battery to charge. It is like time stops. And this is usually after you are super jazzed about a great flight! "Let's go again!!!" my soul screams!!! But no, gotta wait around for an hour for a battery to charge. It feels like dying. BUT THIS! THIS COMES WITH 2 BATTERIES. >>>THEY BOTH CAN CHARGE AT THE SAME TIME<<< You can charge one while flying the other!!! Why has no one else done this!?! I love it. LOVE. Speaking of love, it was time to fly. WITH my 2 batteries \o/. From the reviews I heard it was quick and responsive. Quick, responsive, and untrimmed is NOT to be flown in my livingroom - Wife's rules, not mine. But there was just a little breeze outside. The box said it was up to the task - I am rarely lied to by boxes, they are honest packaging. Oh, BTW - The instruction guide is hilarious. Read a few passages for amusement, and bin it - You don't need it. All you need to know - Throttle/tail on the left, ailerons/elevator on the right. Dual rate button on one of the sides up top. Now you are up to speed. Takeoff was to be expected, goose it and it pops right up. Little shift to the left on takeoff. If you don't do anything it sorts this out within a foot, if you are clever, a bump to the right stick makes it takeoff straight as a stovepipe. Chicks dig that. I realized, this heli hovers like a champ. I certainly wasn't doing it. It wasn't the Syma 107 'I'm sticking to this exact spot and refuse to move' hover, but just generally staying in the same small vicinity - maybe drifting a few inches here and there with the breeze. The tail needed some trim as it rotated SLOOOOOWLY. I'm apparently too inept to find the trim by feel, so I had to stare at the controller instead of the heli for a moment. The heli waited for me - It didn't look like it was judging me. A few happy beeps from the controller and it was solid. I took a moment to admire what I thought would be the 'before' moment. I was still expecting great tragedy. Then I started flying it. I have NEVER flown a fixed pitch before, or a collective pitch. I can't say I 'fly' the coaxials - They kind of 'putter about'. THIS THING FLIES. I realized the coaxials gave me a bad habit. Right thumb has been TRAINED by many, many, many hours to make the rudder move. This has 4 channels. left thumb is in charge of the tail now. Sadly, left thumb is an imbecile, as I had to consciously REMIND left thumb that this was his JOB - He is still bad at it. Before long I was flying circuits around the back yard. Turns out, if you coordinate the turn, this thing REALLY moves. BUT! If you are screaming across the yard, and panic (Guilty), let go of the right stick. It is like magic. It hits the brakes and gains a bit of altitude. I CAN FLY A FP HELI!!! What followed was the funnest R/C flying experience ever. For about 3 minutes... I had made 2 consecutive coordinated turns and this thing was BLAZING across the yard. Apparently you have to give more throttle to maintain altitude when REALLY cooking (Good to know, eh?). I didn't do that. It got DANGER low and I panicked (again) and cut the throttle. Augered right in. This is when the sadness sets in. I was sure it was over. The blades are fixed and don't even fold back. But i picked it up, and inspected it. NOT A SCRATCH! Not a ding/mark/chip on the wings!?! I piled it in a mach 5! I righted it, and it flew!?! Perfectly!?! Apparently I did not believe this, because I crashed at least 4 more times before the battery gave out (some say lack of basic skill and fine motor control, I say I was proving a point). Sadness about the battery running out sets in deep... BUT I HAVE A 2ND ONE RIGHT HERE! I got 4 full-battery flights in before dark. A few more crashes, but my flying keeps getting... BETTER!!! SO MUCH FUN. It can fly as fast as a park flyer airplane, but you can STOP (just let go of the right stick in emergencies - It flies better without my help). Go back, side-to-side, spin. Most of those at the same time. Flying circuits in the yard is pure joy. Fast, slow, both. Whatever! FUN! I love it. It scratches my r/c heli AND R/C plane itch at the same time. It is a bit more challenging to spot land (6inch circle) than my S107, but 9000 times more fun to FLY. So my advice: - BUY IT!!! Thank me later. 1st heli - AWESOME! If you fly coax, you'll need to unlearn your bad habits. But it is worth it. - Wait for low wind. It seems to handle a light breeze just fine, probably more. - Fly it over grass. Thick/long/short whatever. GRASS. It is indestructible in grass. You will look at it and say, "This guy is full of it, it looks fragile". It does, but it isn't. Over grass it is INVINCIBLE. Your yard is big enough. A baseball or soccer field is WAY enormous, but fun for super long runs (Stay in the grass part). - If you get in trouble - let go of the right stick. - If you have DOOOOOOMED yourself. If you know you will pile in. If you are flying at your head (this happens). REMEMBER THIS: Dump the throttle. It will just fall in the grass, waiting patiently for you to right it and start being a better pilot. Oh and it comes with an extra set of all the blades. I cannot imagine what for. I dropped it out o the sky, augered in at somewhere over top speed, even hit a wood fence. I literally cannot find any evidence of any wear. Maybe you could use them to make a propeller mustache? I cannot wait to fly again tomorrow...