Syma S107/S107G R/C Helicopter - Red

This is a great introduction to remote control helicopters. It is very stable, very rugged. Ironically, the first (and only) thing to break wasn't the blades or motors or other high-speed parts, it was the power switch! (But we can still turn it on, we just need to use something sharp to pry the switch back and forth inside its housing.) That's unfortunate, but I give them the benefit of a doubt that it's an uncommon problem, and even more so I appreciate that they publish a full parts list in the manual, so theoretically we could order a replacement for the electronics board. That used to be standard practice in ye olden days, I appreciate that they facilitate user repair instead of being a simple throw-away.

Flight is very straightforward. It doesn't move very fast forward or backward, but that's part of what makes it easy to control--the lack of speed is part-and-parcel of the self stabilizing design. (To go forward it has to tilt, but at the same time the stabilization mechanism is actively resisting tilting to keep it stable.) However, it's fast enough, you wouldn't want to go much faster indoors anyway!

We did try it outdoors, and on a cloudy day it still works pretty well! It will struggle against any wind though, you'll have to fly full-speed upwind against any slight breeze just to hold a position. On a full charge, it's pretty impressive how high it can go, but beware once it loses range with the controller it will start falling, and it may not recover gracefully to avoid damage with the ground if it falls from that high. (ours did avoid damage btw, which is a testament to its ruggedness. I was sure I was going to be picking up pieces!)

There are two 'channels' on the controller, so you can fly two of these at the same time. It's a little unclear how you configure the helicopter to know which is which, it actually 'locks on' to the first channel where it gets a signal after you turn it on. So if you do get two, just make sure to 'pair' them one at a time.


Syma S107/S107G R/C Helicopter - Colors may vary