So, my newest brother in law got me an awesome gift for Christmas. Actually he got me and himself awesome gifts for Christmas. These gifts were micro helicopters. Specifically the Sliver Bullet Helicopter from Brookstone. He got the blue one and I got the red. Each was a different channel so we could fly them both at the same time. Christmas night proved to be some of the worse examples of piloting ever! Thankfully those little helicopters are tough. We were not very successful that night but it was fun. By the end of my 2 week vacation I was getting the hang of the little 2 channel chopper and was hooked.
Back home I flew the Silver Bullet at least once a day. It was fun to chase the cats around the room. The only annoying part was having to wait for it to charge. So I decided to get another heli. I want to sum up my next month worth of experiences with this: Airhogs suck! I went through 4 of them and they were all worthless. One just stopped working, one broke the rotor shaft on the first minor crash, one would only hold a 20 second charge after a week of working great and the last was completely impossible to control now matter what fix I tried from the instructions or web postings.
So, I started looking online for alternatives. I knew I didn’t want an Airhog. I also decided to step up from a 2 channel to a 3 channel helicopter. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money but I also didn’t want to waste my money on cheap crap. I liked the option of replaceable parts but this was not a necessity. Another consideration was the gyro. It improves stability but I thought that was the purpose of the dual rotors. Another optional item.
I came across quite a few no name mini choppers on various websites. They appeared to be nice but then so did the Airhogs. Then I found these same no name choppers on eBay. Then I came across the Syma helicopters. They were in the same price range as the cheap mini helicopters (when you got them direct from China) but the important difference was that they had a name! I was able to find auctions and websites that sold replacement parts. There were YouTube videos showing people flying (and crashing) the helis. They also offered two helicopters that had everything I was looking for and more. Both the S107 and S006 were in my price range and could be flown indoors. As a bonus, the S006 could be flown outdoors because of it’s larger size and standard transmitter (as opposed to the IR transmitter that can not be used in sunlight). The S107 had a gyro which I wanted to try out. The S006 charged from a wall charger but the S106 had the ability to charge from the remote. Charging from the remote might seem nice but you go through batteries a lot faster doing this. The S106 also included a charging cable that had a USB end so it could charge from a computer. So rather than choosing between them I decided to get both.
THE PURCHASE
I searched until I found an eBay seller who offered both helicopters. I was actually lucky enough to find about 3 sellers who had both of them. I then picked the seller with the best feedback rating, making sure that the feedback was mostly from sales and not purchases. The seller I bought from was modelestore. His/her auctions were nicely designed, had plenty of large detailed pictures and all the terms were clearly defined. There was no fine print. Another thing I appreciated was that they had a set starting bid and free shipping. It was not an auction with a price of $1 and then $40 for shipping. I won/paid for both of these items on 02-16-2010. I received the standard automated notifications from eBay when winning and paying. I got a message on 02-23-2010 from the seller letting me know that my package had shipped.
DELIVERY
The helicopters finally arrived on 03-08-2010 but I was not home. I had to wait until the next day to pick them up. I got my hands on them on 03-08-2010. This was 21 days after winning the auction. The auction states 20-30 days for delivery so they were very accurate. When I picked up the "box" from the post office, I was a little disappointed with the packaging. The helicopter boxes were taped together and then pallet wrapped. No protective box or cushioning. The helicopter's themselves were only secured in their boxes by two twist ties each. The transmitters were only set in their Styrofoam molded areas with nothing securing them. I was initially concerned that something might be damaged from mishandling. Then I considered what these helis go through when crashing and felt a little better. In the end, everything arrived perfectly functional. The only "damage" was the clear window on the box of the S006. It was loose on one side making it hard to get the contents out. This could have been shipping or just not enough glue, either way it was not a big deal. Here are some pictures detailing the shipping, packaging and contents of my purchase.
PERFORMANCE
These helicopters are awesome! The Silver Bullet is a great heli. It helped me learn to fly and could handle all my newbie crashes. But, the Syma helis are so much better.
S006: This heli is huge compared to my other 2. I would definitely consider this a step up. It is harder to control than the Silver Bullet or the S107. Because of it’s larger size it needs more power to get off the ground. This power WILL cause parts to break when (not if) you crash. After flying for about 3 weeks I had my first real crash while flying in my garage. It was NOTHING compared to what I have done to that little Silver Bullet but I still snapped part of the tail fin off. My attempts with outdoor flying have been disappointing so far. The tail motor is not strong enough to counteract a light breeze. I will continue to try but I will probably have to wait until my step up to a 4 channel to truly go outdoors. The S006 also appears to be impossible to trim. It always has a pull to one direction. I can not seem to find the center. I may have to look online to see if there is something I can adjust on the heli itself. Overall this is a really fun heli to fly but does require experience to be successful.
S107: This is the hands down most fun helicopter I have flown yet and it is all because of the GYRO! When I got the Silver Bullet it took me two charge cycles to just fly or not immediately crash at takeoff. Why? Because I didn’t understand that I couldn’t hover. I didn’t know what all the different channels controlled so I kept crashing. What I thought the heli should do was not what it could do. Well, the S107 flies exactly like you would expect a helicopter to fly. The dual rotors and gyro keep it so stable it turns on a dime. When you lift off it doesn’t spin around out of control. It just lifts. It is night and day compared to the Silver Bullet or S006. I am working on a video comparing the performance of these helis and I will post it as soon as I can. I would recommend the S107 over ANY other heli as your first RC helicopter purchase. It is durable, fixable and really fun.
I hope this helps you with your decision making process. If you have a question that I did not cover in my article, be sure to post it below. I will do my best to respond quick.
