Syma S102G 3.5 Channel RC Helicopter with Gyro

I've always been a huge R/C lover with a small budget. I loved nothing more than getting an R/C car or helicopter when I was a little kid, and would play with it for weeks on end. After rediscovering my interest in all things R/C again, I decided to take the plunge and start with Syma.This may just be the greatest $20 I've ever spent in my life, there's nothing bad about this product, at all. I couldn't think of one even if I was paid to do so.First of all, the packaging was top-notch. Upon receiving it, you're really not sure if you've just purchased a budget R/C toy or some hobby enthusiast's prized possession. Everything's strapped in tight, yet easy to remove when it comes down to it. It even comes with a smaller propeller as a replacement (As I remember I had quite a few issues in the past with the smaller rotors being damaged).Talking about replacements, on the manual you can find an extremely handy replacement parts list for everything on the helicopter and controller. Say goodbye to searching Google for hours on end, it couldn't be handier for that one bump too many!THe helicopter itself is the prize here. There's two rotors and a gyroscope that helps make this helicopter feel like a premium product. The main rotor controls the central blades to provide lift, and the smaller one at the back provides the forward/backward movement. The gyroscopes helps the helicopter to turn left and right extremely smoothly. It's hard to tell the difference between this model and a real helicopter with how smoothly it flies.There's no awkward finger movements to try and counter rugged and sudden movement, it can hover very happily, turn very smoothly or fly forwards in a very straight line.The controller feels comfortable in your hands, the controls are fine tuned and there's no dead zones, and best of all, with the USB cable provided, you don't need the controller to charge up the helicopter, just plug it into any kind of USB socket! It's a lifesaver for those AA batteries in the controller.It's very durable, it flies great, it has a pretty great flying time (I've gotten around 10 minutes flying time on 45-60 minute charges), looks superb and at this price, it's a steal.

This was a gift for my four year old and we got a different model for our seven year old and I have to admit to being nervous about the durability with a four year old. Of course she learned to control the helicopter with me so it wasn't like I was turning her loose to dive bomb the cat and crash into a wall. The nice things about this model are that it is so much easier, smoother and slower for take off. Very easy to control versus the other models that we have used. This is easy to keep level, at a certain height and to take slow controlled turns. It's night and day compared to our other one in terms of how "touchy" the remote is for this. We love this and it has held up so well! It's been crashed more times than I can count (all controlled crashes of course). It was accidentally lowered quickly (dropped) from the second story to the first when I thought it was landing on a banister and it just keeps plugging away. The battery life is about 15 minutes now but it charges quickly. My only negatives would be: the charging cable and plug seem cheap and fragile, the helicopter doesn't sit stably when being charged, it doesn't do well outdoors...at all.We have fun with this, it's still used a lot and at the price point we couldn't have asked for more. I can answer questions but I am not an expert in this arena at all. Thanks!

The RC Helicopter itself is 5 stars. For the price the unit is great. If you are used to the S107G this unit will be less "touchy", the body makes this unit a little more stable and a little easier to fly. Yes all Symas are made in China but of the options available they are one of the best for the beginner especially at a low budget. They also have an abundance of spare parts.These are also very sturdy for their size and easy for children to learn on and use.ONE STARThe reason for the one star is the controller. The unit appears to be a 3.5 channel RC (this means that at least three of them can fly at once) however the controller is an old two channel controller (A & B). Useless for flying more than two of these.Apparently we will need to buy the three channel controllers directly from Syma.syma-rc.com/Syma-Spare-Parts/Syma-S107G-Spare-Parts/Syma-S107G-Remote-Control

Well, I'm getting old and haven't really enjoyed opening Christmas presents size I was 12 or so. Seems once I turned a certain age my presents were always practical items. I really missed getting a G.D. toy! So, now that I have gray hair I figured there was no way the women in my life could handle the challenge of picking-out something 'fun'... so I did it myself. I got myself this silly R.C. helicopter and by-God I flew it around on Christmas day and had a grand-old time (for ten minutes or so till I got bored). LOL Ya know, sometimes us guys just need to do stupid things every once in a while. It's a guy thing. So, from now on I'm insisting on one toy for Christmas. I don't care what it is... just one present I can fiddle with for ten minutes or so. I don't care how ridiculous I'll look playing with it... so long as it entertains me for a few minutes on Christmas morning. :)BTW, this helicopter is well built and easy enough to fly. The best part is ya can smack it into a wall dozens of times and NP. The blades are hinged so they can take an impact without damage. Crashing it also does zero damage to the furniture or walls. I suppose you can break the thing.. but you'd have to try pretty hard. The box comes with two extra blades just in case.