Lots of 3.5-channel helis for Christmas

I'm writing in response to the gentleman whose blog appears just below this one. He ordered one of these as a Christmas gift to himself, but closed the thread before I could respond:

http://www.worldtechtoys.com/product...elicopter.html

So, in the interest of good will toward men during this Christmas season, I'm responding here in the hope that others interested in similar helicopters might benefit.

Back in April, I reviewed a nearly identical machine. The link may be found here.

Helicopters like this are best flown in a large, enclosed, obstacle-free space like a garage or a gym. They steer through the air much like a surface model. Small 3.5-channel helis are fine for the living room, but these particular models are far too large, ungainly and imprecise for in the house.

In order to fly outside, the wind must be dead calm. By that, I mean dead. There are no servos at the main rotors to control cyclic; all of the forward and reverse motion is done via the tail rotor. So, even a slight breeze will mean that the helicopter will be at the mercy of the winds since there is no cyclic control and no pitch control found on regular variable pitch helicopters.

That said, I still fly mine in the garage every so often. I back the cars out onto the driveway, close the door and buzz around. It's a lot of fun for what it is, but it's extremely limited compared to my CCPM helicopters or my quadcopters.

Happy new year and have fun, gang!