Syma S107 3 Channel Infrared Controlled Helicopter with Gyroscopic Stability Control - Yellow

This little helicopter is beautiful to look at even before you get it into the air. The quality of design is stunning and it is very well put together. I had a cheap remote helicopter previously and it was almost impossible to control. With the built in gyroscope this one could not be more different. Control in all directions is sharp and crisp . Even from the start you should be able to fly this one safely without any problem after a few minutes practice.

Being able to charge it from USB is a great idea. The one I had previously had to be charged from the remote control unit which was an extra drain on the batteries. As the previous reviewer stated the charge time is quite long and the flight time limited - it's a nuisance but you do get used to this after a while.

A word of warning is to not even think about taking this machine outside. Unless it is a very dull still day the i/r remote control will lose contact and the copter will fall out of the sky, or it will get blown away as it is just not powerful enough to work against any form of breeze. Digressing slightly its quite good fun to set up a fan indoors and see how your piloting skills cope with `turbulence'.

If you are like me and never quite grew up then this is absolutely a must have! Even if its only to drive the missus nuts.

Many, many years ago I owned a toy helicopter game called "Vertibird", where you could fly a helicopter on the end of a long plastic arm in a circle, supposedly in order to thwart some escaping criminals whose getaway car was handily fitted with a large hoop which your aircraft could grab hold of. It was brilliant, but it was more fun to just fly it around and around in circles over the lounge carpet.

Anyway, this weekend I bought one of these helicopters and memories of "Vertibird" came flooding back. It's a sturdy little thing, made of metal whereas other similar helicopters tend to be plastic or polystyrene, and it looks fantastic. Once the box is opened you'll find the helicopter, the controller (which requires six AA batteries - not supplied), a USB lead for charging the helicopter from your PC (more on this in a moment) and a single sheet of instructions which, although written in somewhat fractured English, tell you all you need to know.

Once the batteries are installed into the controller you need to charge the helicopter itself. There are two available methods. The first option involves connecting the helicopter to the controller via a short cable which is stowed inside a compartment on the edge of the controller itself. Plug this into the helicopter and switch the controller on, and wait 40-50 minutes until a red light on the unit turns green. This obviously drains the batteries in the controller. The second option is to charge the helicopter from a PC using the supplied USB lead. Either way, a full charge will give you just under ten minutes of flying time, which is actually fine, and seems plenty.

So, what about flying? It's actually very easy to fly. There is a tiny switch on the side of the helicopter which needs to be flicked to the "on" position, and a bigger one on the controller, and once they're both active you're ready to go. A small LED light also flashes on the front of the helicopter to indicate that it is switched on, plus it looks pretty cool too. There are two joysticks on the controller, the left controlling the throttle (push it away from you to make the rotors spin faster, which allows you to take off and then control height), and the right moves left and right to turn the helicopter, or push away from you to move forwards, or pull back to reverse. After a few minutes - and a few crashes - you'll have the knack. Should the helicopter crash - which it will do, several times - it seems pretty sturdy, and replacement blades etc. can be purchased. The blades actually pivot, so should you hit an item of furniture they should do no damage.

Within five minutes or so I was happily flying journeys along the length of my lounge, the helicopter taking off from the carpet, tables, and even my hand, and landing on sofas and even laps. It's noisy, but understandably so due to its nature. Oh, and as others have said, don't take it outside as it's quite light and not designed to fly in breezes, plus it will easily go out of range and immediately crash.

All in all it's a tremendously impressive bit of fun, and you'll find yourself singing the "Airwolf" theme as you make it zoom around the lounge. My next goal is to make it land on the back of my (moving) "Big Trak", oh, and also to get the bigger one for Christmas. Think I'm going to need a bigger house :-)

When I was a kid these kind of things would have cost a months salary, which is why although I am far to old I can finally afford to relive my youth. I bought a cheap sub £20 rc helicopter a couple of years ago which was fun but you couldn't really control where the thing went, so when I decided to treat my self to a new one for only just over £20 I wasn't expecting the earth. I was blown away when it came, it's beautifully made, extremely stable in flight and heaps of fun. My only concern would be how this can be sold for this money, who is making them and how much are they being paid?
I definitely recommend this product, it's awesome!