RC Quad Copter

This inexpensive Quad Copter by Syma is in a word, awesome. For a very small price you will get hours and hours of fun. I've used this more than any of my other flying helicopters, planes or driving vehicles. It's easy to fly both inside or outside.

It has 2 modes, Easy and Advanced. In easy mode it keeps you from making dramatic tilts, turns or accelerating too quickly. You will not be able to move quickly in any direction in this mode. In high winds you may not be able to counter in easy mode. During flight you can change modes to either Advance or Easy. In advanced you have the ability to make the more dramatic tilts and turns. You will have more control and can move quite quickly.

This copter does not come with all the fancy GPS home base settings and other features that other more expensive quad copters do. But it certainly gives you a long flight time and some experience you'll probably want to get before moving on to something more expensive.

The LiPo battery that it comes with will last about 7 to 8 minutes of constant flight time. However, you can purchase some batteries that fit it that will offer you up to 20 minutes of flight time. The batteries that I bought (shown here) are not made specifically for the copter and so don't clip in securely like the one that came with it, but it does slide into the same slot and they do plug right in. They sit in the slot easy enough without anything else keeping them in place and this is how I use them. If you're concerned though you can just use a piece of tape to secure them during flight.

Batteries are charged with a simple, dummy light, USB cable that comes with the quad copter. The light will indicate when the batteries have finished charging by going out. Charge time varies depending on the amperage you use to charge the battery. I have the option of plugging them into a 2.1 amp USB outlet that I bought that plugs into a standard outlet. I purchased this from Amazon for other reasons as gifts for others, but it's a very useful item to have around in just about any room.

This copter does its own built in tricks, using a designated button and tilting in any direction will cause it to do a complete flip in the direction that you indicated. I have not been able to duplicate this without the trick button combinations. I have seen others with similar quad copters to flips in a much larger circle than this but I haven't been able to duplicate it yet with this copter/controller so I don't know if its capable of that.

The controller that it comes with is adequate to work the copter. It has digital trim adjustments that work well. However, you can, and I have considered, getting alternate and better controller to work with it. It also comes with replacement propeller blades, but I haven't had to replace them yet.

I can't recommend this quad copter enough, its one of my favorite toys. If you love RC cars, planes, or copters... this is a must have! It's inexpensive enough that if you break it you can easily replace it and would be a good gift for any kid. Especially if you want to get him/her off of the computer!