iHelicopter - Lightspeed Android / iPad / iPhone Controlled i-Helicopter With Turbo

My girlfriend bought me one for my birthday and I cannot even begin to express how good it is. It's incredible value: You get a well-made steel-framed machine with built in gyro stabilising and a bag of spare parts, although frankly it's pretty robust. I've crashed mine dozens of times and there's not a mark on it. The app is nicely done (I have the iPhone version) and actually using the motion control is probably the easiest way to control it. I've had other micro helicopters in the past which were all OK, but this one is absolutely brilliant and a complete bargain. You can have up to 3 in the same area as there are three available channels. Top tip: Shop around a bit and you may get a discount on a pair making them even better value. The blurb suggests this could be the must-have toy for Xmas 2011 and I suspect they are right (at least amongst iOS and supported Android device owners and I understand more Android devices are being supported all the time). There will even be free app updates which include new features. One I have read about is a flight recorder that will give you the ability to record a flight and then run the entire flight again at the touch of a button.

Flight time is around 9 minutes from a full charge (although using the lights shortens the flight time a bit but they do look very cool!) and charge time is 20-25 minutes form the supplied USB cable. Because the transmitter plus into the phone headphone socket and has it's own battery, the drain on your phone battery is minimal - no more than having headphones attached at maximum volume. It's neatly packaged and nicely finished with good, clear instructions. Basically, this is the ultimate geek toy! That said, pretty much everyone will want a go when they see it! Anyone who is disappointed by this needs a visit from the fun faeries pronto.

I've only given it three stars for education value because it's not really an educational toy and so the question is a little irrelevant but there is something to be learned and understood about helicopters and motion from this if you really want to go down that route. But that absolutely doesn't detract from it at all: 5 stars all the way!

I'll not add much to the other reviews here other than to echo what they're saying. This is so easy to fly it's unreal. Other micro RCs I've flown have struggled to maintain height control - over powering or plummetting to the ground. With this you just move the slider up and let go and it pretty much holds that height with very minor adjustments i.e when moving forward it also climbs a little. The control is so good I can land it on a small book for example or fly it to the corner of the room, turn, hold, come back without crazing swings or arcs or dropping height - the control is razor sharp. I like the iphone controls and also the tilt control is pretty intuitive. It seems very robust but just in case, they throw in a few spares.

One word of caution - if you intend to fly high or over a hard floor it's worth remembering that if you receive a text during flight it overrides the controls and the helicopter falls out of the sky!! I see why they make you switch your phone off on planes now :¬)

I'd say buy one - in fact I'm buying two for my mates for christmas so we can mess about with them together - there are 3 channels so 3 can fly at once.

Hope this is useful.

I was given this Helicopter for christmas and have had about 5 flights with it so far, the Helicopter itself is great, well built and capable (if you can control it).
I am using with an iphone 4S (have followed all the special setup required for the new IOS software) and I find a touch screen/motion sensor is a very poor way to control the helicopter.

The helicopter itself is made to an identical design to the Symos S107G (that I also own). The S107G comes with it's own transmitter, costs £10 less and is 10 X easier to control because you have precise control of the joysticks.
With the touch screen on an iPhone I cannot get precise control of the joystick and there is no physical feedback, also the throttle control does not default to shutdown when you release, you must slide it to zero. This increases the number of crashes with the motor still spinning and I am sure will shorten the life of the helicopter.

If you want to impress friends with an iphone gadget this may tick the box. If, on the other hand, you want a great flying helicopter that you can really control I would recommend the Symos S107G.

On alternate charges I have been flying the S107G and the Lightspeed. I can fly the S107G around the room under tables and land it on a saucer or in the palm of my hand with ease. With the lightspeed I am still struggling to hover and land again without smashing into the walls, iPhone for RC model controller; It is not the future!