I’ve made a couple of attempts at learning to fly RC helicopters in the past. This can be quite difficult at the best of times, but an additional factor in learning to fly helis is that they crash as a matter of course, and each crash can cost you several hundred $$s.
Apart from this, the big gas ones are noisy, dirty and very dangerous if not flown properly (you don’t want a blade from one of those flying off at you).
In the past few years, a few manufacturers have come out with smaller and much cheaper electric models with coaxial rotors that can be flown indoors. These models are built to be crash resistant, and although you won’t be doing extreme 3d maneuvering with them anytime soon they are incredibly sturdy and won’t break the bank.
So I got my E-Sky Lama V4 today, I charged the battery for a few hours at the office. When I got home I just hooked it up and the thing flew right out of the box!
This isn’t like those little toy IR helicopters you see at toystores, it’s quite a bit bigger (about the size of a soda bottle), and much sturdier.
It took me about 15 minutes to get the hang of a basic hover, during this time I managed to drop it from ceiling height onto a tile floor. The flybar flew off, but that just popped back on. That’s an amazing feat of durability for any object, let alone a “toy”.
Overall I’m very happy with this little heli. It’s made in China and the manual is a pretty impressive example of Engrish. Sometimes it seems they must have been writing it that way on purpose.
The build quality is pretty good, although the canopy is made of flimsy plastic and it looks like I’ll need to get new main rotors after another few crashes. It’s noticeably stabler than the gas heli I used to have, the controls are also extremely responsive.
I’m really impressed, I just hope I have enough time to fly this little fellow on a regular basis.
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