Today I received my new M-302 coaxial helicopter and I had a chance to fly it multiple times (it re-charges quickly). Overall I have a good first impression and below I have written a review.

I have been into R/C helicopters for some time now and fly everything from coaxials to 6ch helicopters. However, this is the first coaxial heli that I've had which can do the side to side "aileron" movement, so that makes it a neat little indoor heli, especially for the price.

Here is a link to the helicopter from Tmart:
http://www.tmart.com/M302-4-Channel-...e_p143221.html

Below are a few pictures of the helicopter that I snapped today:

Flying:


In the box:


Box contents:


Post flight:


Charging on transmitter:


Charging from computer:


As you can see in one of the pictures, it comes with:
- 1 Helicopter
- 1 Remote
- 1 USB charging cable
- 2 Spare main blades (1 spare for the top and 1 spare for the bottom)
- 2 Spare "aileron" blades
- 1 Spare tail blade
- 1 Phillips head screwdriver


Overview of my first thoughts:

Flight:
I really like the idea of having a coaxial heli that can do side to side movement. This makes it have all the basic movements of a 4 channel fixed pitch helicopter, but it is much more stable and easier to pick up and fly than any fixed pitch helis that I have flown. The stabilizing gyro seems to do it's job well too. It's pretty quick for a coaxial, and I recorded some videos that I have posted below. IMO, it's a good heli to learn to fly before moving to 4ch fixed pitch helis, or just a good indoor heli in general.

M302 test flight 1 (1 min 51 sec)

M302 test flight 2 (1 min 22 sec)

Durability:
- I've only had it for one day so I can't give a full review on this, but the heli seems durable. I made a crash test video in order to test the heli out, and I will post it below when it finishes uploading. Needless to say, I was a little nervous about purposely flying my new heli into a wall, but I figured I needed to know how well it holds up before letting my friends fly it The metal frame, metal tail boom, and metal main shaft definitely help.

Crash test video:

M302 crash test (0 min 45 sec)

Transmitter:
- The transmitter is a pretty standard coaxial heli transmitter. It has a demo button on it which causes the heli to fly automatically forward, reverse, left, right, and spin, but really this is rather pointless in my opinion. I tried to use this button a few times and found myself having to retake control of the heli before it ran itself into a wall....
- The trim knob for the clockwise / counter clockwise tail movement is easy to get to when flying, so that's good. I also found that once the trim is set the helicopter seemed to remain stable.
- However my biggest gripe about the transmitter is that you cannot change into "Mode 2" type control (I have yet to find a coaxial where you can do this, so I wasn't really expecting it). For those who fly 4 and 6 channel helis you probably know what I mean. In the USA people typically fly with the throttle and rotation on the left tx stick, and the cyclic control (left / right / front / back) on the right tx stick. This heli has all of the basic movements of a 4ch fixed pitch heli, so it would be very nice if I could set up the tx sticks in the same way that my other helis are set up. Aside from this the transmitter does what it is intended to do and controls the heli perfectly fine.

Charging and flight time:
- The first thing that I noticed is that the charging cable is much easier to plug into the heli than my other coaxial helis. I know this might not seem like much, but by using this different plug type they save me from having to squint my eyes and turn the plug every which way until it goes in like I do with my other coaxials.
- Another important thing is that in addition to being able to charge the heli on the transmitter, it comes with a USB charging cable which saves my tx batteries. With this I can charge it on my computer, or on the USB wall adapter that came with my mobile phone. You can see in two of the pictures above, one is charging on the tx, the other on my computer.
- It only takes a little over 20 minutes to charge and gives me about 8 minutes flight time, which means i can recharge and fly, recharge and fly, etc etc

Summary
Pros:
- All the movements of more advanced helicopters
- Inexpensive but durable (metal frame, etc)
- USB charger that is easy to plug in
- Very stable
- Colorful lights for flying when dark
- Spares included

Cons:
- Can't change transmitter to "Mode 2" (though none of my coaxials do this)
- Demo button on tx mostly pointless

I hope this helps some people who are looking for a new little coaxial helicopter. Please let me know what you think or let me know if you have any questions. Also if you have the same helicopter I'd like to hear your thoughts on it, and feel free to post some of your own videos if you can

Going forward I plan to take apart the transmitter and see if i can change it into Mode 2 style by rewiring it or something. This is not really a big deal and I can fly it fine the way it is, but it would be neat if I can modify it and seems like a fun little project to try. If i have any luck with that I will post the details. In the mean time I'll be flying it whenever i get a chance and since it's durable I can also let my friends fly it because i'm trying to get them into this hobby as well

Cheers!

I took apart the transmitter today but it looks like i'll need my multimenter and soldering iron if I want to take on the project of transforming the tx to a Mode 2. The mulitmeter is in the process of being shipped here so I'll let you know if I have any luck in changing the transmitter once I get my tools.

In the mean time i'm having fun flying it!

I had a similar heli to this quite a while ago. I found driving the additional motors, for aileron movement, really sapped the power. It was a lot of fun for a while but durability was so-so and parts availability no-no.

Be careful with it and you will enjoy flying it - it is especially important to cut the power in an imminent crash to avoid rotor head damage on this one.

FYI most 4 channel swashplate type hobby grade helis do have a mode 2 controller. Some such as the MJX series can switch between 4 available modes.

Keep flying!

regards . . . g

Originally Posted by gordonzo

I had a similar heli to this quite a while ago. I found driving the additional motors, for aileron movement, really sapped the power. It was a lot of fun for a while but durability was so-so and parts availability no-no.

Be careful with it and you will enjoy flying it - it is especially important to cut the power in an imminent crash to avoid rotor head damage on this one.

FYI most 4 channel swashplate type hobby grade helis do have a mode 2 controller. Some such as the MJX series can switch between 4 available modes.

Keep flying!

regards . . . g

Thanks for the input, G! Much appreciated.

I do try to cut the power before crashing, and usually i don't crash cause i'm pretty experienced, but I've let my wife and brother-in-law fly it and they've taken it through the ringer! So far it's holding up pretty good despite what they've done to it... I'm not sure about ordering spares, the book that it came with lists a bunch of spares but i haven't checked online yet for any, haven't needed to so far.

I don't seem to notice any power drain when using the aileron motors on this heli, so that's good i'd say, it seems to hold it's elevation fine when i do the side to side movement.

The mode 2 would be nice and i haven't given up on it yet. Looks like it'll take quite a rework to get to it though, i'd need to intercept the signal from the microcontroller on the board. Not too big of a deal to fly like it is, but would be a nice thing to have. This heli isn't the hobby grade that some of the others are (and also isn't nearly as expensive) so I wasn't expecting it to be able to switch modes, but figured i'd give it a shot for the heck of it. I fly my 6 ch helis in mode 2, but actually the person that i know that learned to fly the quickest, flies using the transmitter set up in this type of mode that's on this heli. For me it doesn't make as much since as mode 2, but he surely got the hang of the trex helis quick!

Either way it's fun. Whatever keeps me in the air

Nice videos! Looks like they have improved the flight characteristics of that style of heli a lot.

Quite a change from your 6ch's. I am still doing the fixed pitch and quad thing, mostly quads.

regards . . . g

Good review and videos!

I had the volume turned up, man that thing makes quite a racket!

Interesting how different manufacturers tackle the "4th channel" issue. I've got two 4-ch coaxes, the Blade Force battle helis and the Syma S800. The Blade totally outclasses the Syma due to more precise servo action, but for $20 the Syma is still a fun chopper. Always been tempted to try one of these side fan models but so far haven't pulled the trigger.
Here's my video review of the S800 for comparison:

Syma S800g 4-ch coax review March 2012 (720p) (8 min 29 sec)

Thanks, glad to hear you all liked my review! That was the first real review i've tried to make but I have some extra time now so i might start making more.

I like adding to my fleet however i can I'm still waiting on my other main choppers to arrive from their trip from my old place to the new place, but once they get here I have a nice shelf ready to hold the whole set and whatever else i add.... And of course there is always plenty of air to fly them in

Thanks for your thoughts kurt and that's a good vid too. Guess they don't let you go to mode 2 either though, which would be nice. So did that heli use the tail motor at all, or is it just for looks?

Originally Posted by dilberto

Thanks for your thoughts kurt and that's a good vid too. Guess they don't let you go to mode 2 either though, which would be nice. So did that heli use the tail motor at all, or is it just for looks?

I converted the S800 to mode 2 by soldering a couple jumper wires in the TX accd to instructions posted in the S800 thread. Took about 15 minutes, very worth it.
The S800s tail rotor is just decoration, yaw is controlled by varying the upper and lower rotor speeds.

Originally Posted by Kurt

I converted the S800 to mode 2 by soldering a couple jumper wires in the TX accd to instructions posted in the S800 thread. Took about 15 minutes, very worth it.
The S800s tail rotor is just decoration, yaw is controlled by varying the upper and lower rotor speeds.

Thanks for the input, i'm going to give it a go with this controller too. A few jumper wires don't seem too bad, just need to get my soldering station back and i'll be good to go.

I'm getting use to the mode 4 of this controller, but if i can switch modes why not.

so many rc heli.it's so great.thank for sharing.

Originally Posted by Kurt

Good review and videos!

I had the volume turned up, man that thing makes quite a racket!

Interesting how different manufacturers tackle the "4th channel" issue. I've got two 4-ch coaxes, the Blade Force battle helis and the Syma S800. The Blade totally outclasses the Syma due to more precise servo action, but for $20 the Syma is still a fun chopper. Always been tempted to try one of these side fan models but so far haven't pulled the trigger.
Here's my video review of the S800 for comparison:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKjPUDFYgaA

I had one of these (or something similar) a while ago when they first came out, they were marketed as "avatar helis" based on their looks. My tx was basically a 3-ch tx with two buttons on top (one on each side) to control the side fans. Needless to say that set up didn't worked too well, I ended up taking the side fans off and flew it as a 3 channel. It actually flew quite nice as a 3 ch. fast & long flight times.

I figured out how to change the tx from mode 4 to mode 2

It's an easy modification and the hard part was just figuring out where to solder it. I'm a mechanical engineer but have worked in the electrical field a little as well, so after some checking with the multimeter I gave it a go and it turns out I did it correctly

I put it back together and it all worked like i expected, so below are some pics and descriptions of how i did it. I highly recommend making this mod if you plan to use mode 2 on the fixed pitch and collective pitch helicopters cause it's good practice. I haven't yet found a coaxial indoor heli that comes in mode 2, but now I have my own that I modified

I look forward to using it inside to keep the cobwebs off my thumbs during the winter

Let me know if you have any questions about it. I have included a few short descriptions under the pictures.

Lent my chopper to a buddy of mine who is just getting into helis. He went from the little 3 ch to a fixed pitch heli, and already broke it and waiting for parts. Since this one is a mode 2 now i figured it would be good practice for him. He said he'd been flying the heck out of it already and that it's super stable and is enjoying it Hopefully he'll learn the controls a little better now too so when he goes back to the fixed pitch it will come more naturally. I've tried getting other friends into the hobby before with no luck cause they get frustrated before they get good enough, but this might be a better step before going to the bigger choppers.

This is just a DFD (Di Fei Da toys) "avatar" F103 : http://www.dfdtoys.com/eng/show.asp?id=5 / On RCG : http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1438705

My vids :

quite new

Hélicoptère DFD Firewolf F103 - Présentation à l'intérieur 1 - MM (7 min 32 sec)

inside

RC Inside Ze : DFD F103 - Mise à nu / Intérieur / Chassis - MM (1 min 53 sec)

after removing two "ailerons" because motors were dying :

Hélicoptère RC "Avatar" DFD F103 sans turbines = F101B - MM (5 min 49 sec)

There is a bigger version too the F163 AM : http://www.dfdtoys.com/eng/show.asp?id=20

That's cool. Looks fairly similar to mine. Too bad your aileron motors quit on you though. Did you try getting some new ones and replacing them?

These are fun for indoors, especially during the winter months. What other helicopters do you have? I'm just curious.