Originally Posted by killbucket

People got a'whizzy over my copyright bugs. Pics on my blog.

I got mine from Hobby-Estore, they're now available.

Yeah that was a shame. A lot of bees under a few bonnets ruined what was, for me at least, very enjoyable KB posts and pics.

If I didn't already have four 4-channel micro-coaxes (bought two sets of Force Battle Helis during HH's Christmas closeout spectacular) an S800G or two would be in my shopping cart right now.

For indoor tomfoolery 4-ch micro coaxes (with servos to control the swash) are the perfect vehicle IMO.

Unfortunate that it's mode 4 though, that won't be good at all for transferring skills to Mode 2 single or coax rotored heli....

Earth to Syma, put the bloody controls where they belong on a 4ch. (Not gonna happen.)

Anybody got a S800G and could share the first impressions?

Originally Posted by Airgus

Anybody got a S800G and could share the first impressions?

I've got one on the way, should be here Saturday.
Will take video and post impressions here.

Hello Killbucket!! Nice to see you back on here, no doubt we're in for more wondeful tear-downs, pics and mods from your collection...must be in the thousands now

I've just bought one of these helis today to add to my collection so I'll let everyone know how I get on with it - looking forward to some 4-channel fun. The 4 S107s I bought a couple of YEARS ago are still going strong - I fly them a couple of times a week. Still the best 'bang for the buck' 3ch co-ax on the market.

Glad to see you back, Kill. Hope 'wifey' is still stealing your heli's too

Steve

Hey Red, thx for the kind words, Wifey is AWESOME.


I meant the three solder blobs at top.

But it may mean something that the IR goes in so late that the solder muck is left: it is very easy to imagine a test rig that feeds a set signal, within what the Tx puts out.
It gets all adjusted to that signal, gets a pass/fail, then the IR is slapped in.

I used to QA telephone CO circuit boards at LARUS Corp this way. The next guy in line put the receiver on, the next guy tested that.

FYI: Same $34.99 price at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007FLQ394

Ordered mine from Amazon today with "Prime" shipping, tracking says it's already left Arizona and will be on my front porch in Milwaukee tomorrow :O
We'll see about that...

PS Killbucket - nice video! Those are some BIG guns :P

Well now that's express shipping!
Ordered off Amazon March 8th at 2PM, and according to UPS tracking it departed Phoenix at 7:54PM, stopped by Louisville at 1:18AM, and arrived in Oak Creek WI at 5:04AM. Was on my porch in Milwaukee at 4:47PM, just under 25 hours after clicking "buy". Most Impressive!

She weighs in at 43g (vs. ~35 for the S107g), 3g of which is decorative tail parts, and a 3g body.

After ~8 flights this is what I've found:

Pros:
Clever servo design, tightly packaged internals, typically smooth Syma drivetrain and overall heli strength, so far very durable, low price, good IR signal, pretty long flight times (7 minutes+ per charge), comes with both a black and a white canopy (sort of a Battlestar Galactica look, I like it), nice little screwdriver included.
2 holes on the servo arms for low or high swashplate response (i.e. slightly faster fore/aft and/or left/right speed).

Cons:
Just a TERRIBLE controller.
- extremely small and thin form, with very short sticks might be comfortable if you have 9 year old hands.
- "Buttons" on the stick ends. No me gusta.
- Control linearity and precision sucks. Zero to full travel (with the throttle and more so with the swashplate servos) occurs over less than 50% of the sticks' travel. The other 50% is just wasted movement, so for elevator and aileron control it's very difficult to find any spot between "on" or "off".
- mode 4, so rudder is on the right stick instead of left, aileron on left instead of right. I assume Syma did this because typically 3-channel helis have the rudder on the right stick, so new 4-ch pilots will be used to this but virtually EVERY other 4-channel or 6-channel heli is Mode 2 so this will be a challenge to fly for more experienced pilots, ironically.

I took apart the controller to see how tough it would be to de-solder and swap the rudder and aileron. I'm sure it can be done, just above my pay grade. Would need to also re-wire the rudder trim.

In conclusion, if you're a Syma fan-boy (like me) or have unnaturally small hands I'd say go for the S800g.

Until I fly, or see good video of other <$40 4-ch micro-coaxes I can't say how this stacks up.
I can only compare it to the HH Force (i.e. MCX2), and based purely on the control precision and TX form the S800g just gets destroyed.

Syma: Very nice job with the heli, but you get a flying "F" for the controller!

on to the video

http://youtu.be/GKjPUDFYgaA?hd=1

Great looking helipad


cheers John.

Kurt, thanks for the great review. Great flying because the video was taken in one take, no second tries. And you even stuck the landing. Bravo!

The S800G sounds very much inline with my expectations. I love my S107G for relax indoor flying. I'm a Mode 2 flyer. Somehow, I could switch it up and fly the S107G very decently. But I must say, I don't want to learn and fly another Mode 4 flyer. It's just gonna mess up my game here. I have always been disappointed by the S110G tiny remote. I wish the S800G is at least based on the larger S107G remote. So, that's another strike. And until I start seeing replacement parts on the market, there is just no dice for me.

Kurt, great review thanks. Very informative. I have to side with Heli Pad though, I won't be buying one. It's too bad Syma didn't make the tx mode switchable like other companies do.

Indeed, nice review, thanks Kurt.

Glad you liked the review guys.
Real shame that Syma borked the controller, this could have been a real winner.

Sad truth is that the 1 year old+ Air Hogs Helix single-rotor 4-ch is more fun to fly purely because of it's much better transmitter. Mine's still going strong!

I can still see myself occasionally taking the S800g for a spin; mode 4 may be frustrating but it's a new challenge and adds variety, like trying to write or throw a ball with your left hand.

Blame it on that ol' Syma magic, but I found myself drawn to the S800g today. OK it was also too windy outside for the 120SR, and I'm still waiting for my MSR 5-in-1 to come back from warranty repair, and the housework was all done... so I tore down the S800g and gave her a spiffy MIL-spec desert paint job.
Still more than enough juice for 5 minute+ flights with the ~4g of paint, weaponry and turbine upgrades, and darned if I'm not coming to grips with the stupid controller. We'll see how my brain and thumbs do when I go back to a well designed mode 2 TX....

Originally Posted by Kurt

Blame it on that ol' Syma magic, but I found myself drawn to the S800g today. OK it was also too windy outside for the 120SR, and I'm still waiting for my MSR 5-in-1 to come back from warranty repair, and the housework was all done... so I tore down the S800g and gave her a spiffy MIL-spec desert paint job.
Still more than enough juice for 5 minute+ flights with the ~4g of paint, weaponry and turbine upgrades, and darned if I'm not coming to grips with the stupid controller. We'll see how my brain and thumbs do when I go back to a well designed mode 2 TX....

Now that is one very smart looking heli, seeing that come over the horizon would certainly make you look twice