Air Hogs Havoc Heli - Colors May Vary
by Spin Master
|
Our Price: $29.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $17.96 (click here) Category: Toy See more product details |
|---|
Toys and Games Reviews of Air Hogs Havoc Heli - Colors May Vary
Customer Review: Best Distraction EVER!
Summary: 5 Stars
Short Version:
Good: Quick charge, long flight time, super easy, incredibly durable, cheap
Bad: Impossible to accurately control, feels cheap
Long Version:
I recently bought a $130 3-channel heli with all the bells/whistles... what a waste! Now that I've got the Air Hogs Heli, it is quite evident that $30 gets you 100x the fun for $100 less! This toy is incredible. Everyone loves it! It flies around my tiny dorm room, crashes into walls, and is totally unscathed. Of course, DO NOT think that you will be able to maneuver this little guy around obstacles and chase your evil coworkers down...
The controls are for the speed of the main rotor (make heli go up/down) and the speed of the tiny back rotor (which counteracts the torque of the main rotor and controls the spinning of the heli). Notice how there is no 3rd channel control for forward/backward! Again, if you plan on doing acrobatics, this is not the toy for you... but if you like little flying gadgets that you can semi-control as they buzz around your room and cause pandemonium , this heli is perfect! Everyone around has a blast and wants to try to fly it... and the best part is that you can let them!
The minuscule size and weight, along with the semi-flexible rotor blades, allow this heli to crash (a lot) and still keep going. If mine has survived 3 days of rowdy college kids, it can survive in your home.
Best of luck and enjoy the heli - it is certainly a great buy!
Free tip: The "trimming" of the back rotor only works while the main rotor is engaged.
Customer Review: Not controllable, no fun.
Summary: 1 Stars
We have a large open living area with 12' ceilings, so thought flying a helicopter inside during the winter sounded fun. It was not. I have a pilots license in real life, so was very disappointed that after about 4-5 hours of trying the helicopter was so bent up from hitting things it was no longer controllable at all.
There is three controls. The first is a throttle to make the helicopter go up and down. This works well if you are light enough on the throttle.
The second control turns the helicopter left and right. this works sorta, but is very sensitive.
The third is a trim control. This is needed as the helicopter will spin one way or another out of the box. You have to keep trying and trimming until it stops spinning. Each time you turn it off it loses the trim setting and you have to start over.
On the tail is a weight you slide back and forth to control how fast it goes forward (or backward) in flight. Once you get this set so it is slightly controllable, you can not change this in flight. You can not choose to either hover, or go forward as the commercials suggest, it is one or the other.
Would I buy this again? No way. The kids could not control it at all. I managed to get it slightly controllable after several hours of trying. About this time it became so bent up from hitting things that all control was lost. Do yourself a favor and buy something else.
Customer Review: Fun toy for price, size, and durability
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a really cute looking toy. It's amazing how small and light it is, and it costs so little. I have tried to be careful with it, and so far no signs of breaking like my larger RC helicopter does every other flight :) Both helicopters crash every other flight, but this is very lightweight and more durable. It is a fun toy to play around with, but it is a little more difficult to control than I thought it would be. It is only 2 channel which means you can control going up/down and going left/right - you cannot control forward/backward. When the heli is turning left it will slow down and when it turns right it will go faster ... this proves to be a challenge when trying to get across the room to a particular landing spot. Also, the torque is noticeable - when trying to get somewhere and heading in the right direction, when you increase or decrease rotor power (up/down), the heli turns elsewhere due to the torque ... just makes it difficult to get where you are trying to go.
In summary, very cool little toy for the price and size. For kids I might get one of the heli's with the dual, counter-rotating rotors to avoid the torque issue, but those heli's don't look as authentic or as neat as these do. I think I would try that mosquito one for kids indoors. For adults or older kids, I would get a 3 channel heli to control the third missing element of being able to control going forward and backward.
Customer Review: Very fun, very durable, not completely under your directional control
Summary: 4 Stars
I saw it on tv. The ads make it look completely controllable, but it isn't. Hovering is simple, it likes that a lot. But quick forward or reverse is not possible.
With practice you CAN make this little guy go wherever you want it to (indoors). You have to basically fly sideways... gentle right on the stick gives you a slight right turn which is forward momentum.
Left on the stick gives you left turn which is backward momentum. But the forward movement is very slow and you have to be patient, guiding the helicopter with slight left and right inputs.
This toy is more fun to play with in a large living room or gym, especially with interesting places to attempt to land. Trying to fly around the room is an exercise in patience and gentleness. Flying outdoors is not very fun - the slightest hint of a breeze moves the helicopter around to places unintended (trees) and bright light (even overcast skies) interfers with the controller.
Flight time (about 6 - 7 minutes) is acceptable given the size. The problem is that 10-15 minutes of cool down time is required between charges to keep the batteries from overheating, then another 20 minutes waiting to get a full charge. All that time waiting for 6 minutes of fun...
My 7 year old flies it almost as well as I do, but it requires a child with, yes, patience.
For the price, it is worth having.
Customer Review: Two Air Hogs, Two Stories
Summary: 2 Stars
I am a honest-to-goodness pilot, and realize this is just a toy, so I'm going to avoid any disparaging discussion of the Air Hog's realistic flying physics, as I've seen in some other reviews. That said... my two daughters each got an Air Hog on Christmas after months of persistent begging for one. What I've found is two completely different experiences with both of them.
One of them worked perfect out of the box. The main rotor had excellent torque, the charger worked great, and it has held up to a lot of play.
The second one, not so much. That one has problems charging because the charging plug keeps falling off the side port that it connects to. The torque of the main rotor is pretty lacking, meaning that even when it begins to lose a portion of its hard-won battery charge, it no longer has enough lift for flight. Oh, did I mention that on the first day on a flight that lost rapid altitude due to weak rotor torque and a dying battery that the tail fin broke off on landing? Well it did.
I'm going to give this product two stars because I can see that the product you get out of the box is going to be a huge factor in your enjoyment of it. Manufacturing consistency seems pretty poor with these (maybe a TQM program is in order for this company?), so if you see something doesn't quite seem right, I'd say return it right to the store you got it from for a different one.