UKC

I have been toying with getting an r/c helicopter for a bit of fun for a long time and am lucky enough to have a bit of Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket

So, rather than rushing out and buying one of the myriad bits of cheap rubbish with blink-and-you'll-miss-it flying time (I had one of those once - by the time you'd got it off the ground, the battery had died), I thought I'd get something a bit better.

I prefer something with a single main rotor and tail rotor, rather than the co-axial dual rotor things.

Ideally with spare parts available, longer than 10 mins flight time and easy to recharge/replace battery.

Any suggestions? I've got about £80 to spend.

In reply to LastBoyScout:

Maybe not exactly what you are after, but I have one and they are fab.

Come with a camera

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hubsan-2-4GHz-4-Channel-Control-Quadcopter/dp/B00QW...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0197ZC7HW?psc=1

In reply to The Lemming:

Absolutely NOT what I'm after - if I'd wanted a drone, I'd've said drone

In reply to LastBoyScout:



I know.

However for a small toy, I've had a copter and a small drone. Guess which one was more fun to control and took HD movies too. With the 5 extra batteries I got over an hour of playtime.

Enjoy

In reply to LastBoyScout:

Have you already got a transmitter? (6ch)

In reply to LastBoyScout:

£80 is a tight budget unless you already have a computerised (programmable) transmitter. I'd try a proper helicopter specialist rather than a toy store, ask them for advice. I've found these guys good in the past http://www.fast-lad.co.uk/store/ but there are a few others I can't recall off the top of my head. There are a couple of fairly active RC heli forums which would provide decent advice and ads for specialist UK stores.

To be honest, I think I spent about that much on servos for mine to get it flying reliably and precisely. A crash I cause I can live with but when it's a servo glitch it's pretty damned annoying.

You might be able to get something reasonably good in roughly that price range with a motorised tail rotor (rather than variable pitch). I believe they work quite well but I've never owned one.

Last time I bought a helicopter the 450 size (~65cm rotor span) was about the smallest fully featured model you could get but they've got smaller and smaller since though smaller isn't necessarily cheaper or better (cheaper batteries). Unless you buy a tiny toy one with light/soft blades or have a huge garage/shed they're not really indoor machines and the smaller ones are more susceptible to turbulence. I'm not a very good RC pilot but I can fly the bigger nitro heli on a very blustery day, it's just that much more stable and slower to respond than the little 450 electric which would be bobbing and bouncing on every gust.

jk