Read First Before Buy Helizone Lightning Channel Control Helicopter
I echo many of the reviewers by saying how amazing this little bird is! The Lightning Bird is my first RC Helicopter and is far better than I hoped for. After a day or two of practice flights the helicopter was zipping around trees and bushes faster than I could have imagined! The flights really feel like an adventure.
Spend the first few battery charges on the basics; hovering, forward and back, side to side, etc. and it will really make your later flights much more skilled. I learned to fly indoors but now spend most of my flight time in the backyard, where the bird can really spread its wings! A larger helicopter might handle breezes a little better, but the Lightning Bird sure packs a punch for its size.
The helicopter, batteries, dual charger, and spare parts make such a great package that I would recommend this to anyone interested in learning to fly a radio controlled helicopter.
I received my Lightning Bird today! The first thing I did was tame it a bit for its first flight. I moved the servo rods to the innermost holes on the servo arms and then I moved the connection rod to the shorter ball links on the swash plate. One of the servo arms was not centered so I unscrewed it and centered it and then shortened the rod attached to it by turning the ball link joint clockwise a few times. After a bit of trim it was hovering hands off. I flew it in Mode 1 for a bit and it was really easy to handle. It really let loose when I changed to Mode 2. It was almost too fast for the small indoor space I was flying it in (4 ft of air space between my co workers cubicles and the ceiling). This is my first experience with a v911 and I can tell I'm going to have a lot of fun with it. I'm probably going to move to the longer ball links and stay on on mode 1 for indoor flight. I can't wait to fly it outside on a calm day.
BalasHapusEdit: I originally gave this 5 stars but I didn't realize one of the batteries is bad. It will not charge or power the heli. I love this heli but, with only one battery I can't enjoy it for more than 7-8 minutes at a time with 45 min. charge times in between.
Edit: Wow! Halley R Us is awesome! Two hours after mentioning my bad battery in this review they sent me an email apologizing and offering to send me 2 new batteries. I didn't even have to contact them directly. Great custermer service. 5 Stars!
I took the helicopter out of the package inserted battery and fly easily for a couple of minutes. I then fully charged the batteries and flew for about 5 minutes when I let it get way too high. I did not let off the throttle while I was trying to turn it around. It was nearly dusk and I lost the orientation of the copter. It flew over some trees and I lost sight of it before I realized I had not throttled down. I have searched for two days and I cannot find it. Please don't fly at dusk.
BalasHapus
BalasHapusThis helicopter is very very nimble, even on the lower settings. Even with that I'm easily able to fly it indoors and outdoors in light winds. The lightning bird from Halley R Us is the one with the newer 200mah batteries and the newer battery connections. I had bought an older version from the mall helicopter stand and could not get it to even hover, kept listing to one side. This one from Halley R Us is very easy for me (a beginner) to fly and has been loads of fun. Batteries are easy to place in the updated socket, and this heli has settings that would make even the most expert pilot still have fun with it. I ordered several sets of replacement parts, motors, and shafts because I know I will break them. The heli is very resilient as long as you cut throttle before impact, and even tho my factory set of blades have popped off many times due to me crashing it I am still able to use them. Wonderful heli and loads of fun!
BalasHapusin regards to seller, the product arrived right on time, totally intact, no damage at all.
BalasHapusafter some small manual trim adjustments, we were up and flying. this little thing is really impressive.
complete control and maneuverability. definitely recomment using the smaller input holes in the servo arms to start though.
my friend got one the same time as me, and i put mine in the inner holes, he put his in the outer. i learned how to fly mine, got really good, then decided to move to the outside holes. now i'm all over the place with it. it's awesome. my friend didnt get so lucky. he wrecked right away, multiple times. his is now in really bad shape. i definitely recommend taking your time and learning how to fly this thing before you try to get crazy. all things said though, this little guy rocks major socks.
be aware: the factory connections on the swash plate and the servos are set for aggressive flying. if you have little to no experience with 4 channel (and up) helis, i'll explain how to set these two mechanical features to the easy/moderate flying style.
BalasHapus1) remove the housing canopy. pop the arms from the servos off of the nipples on the shaft assembly. pull with fingers, or use small pliers. needle nose work well. you can wiggle the metal arms out of the outside servo holes and re-locate them to the inside holes. this will give a less dramatic movement to the rotor blades, and allow you to handle the heli easier.
2) on the swash plate, you will see the dogbone-shaped pieces that connect the main blades to the plate. stock location is on the longer of the two connector pins, again pop these off with care using fingers or pliers, and locate them to the short pins (90 degrees away) on the swash plate. make sure these connections are solid, that is to say that the ball joints are locked in position.
replace the canopy and fly with a more gentle handling heli. when you are capable of solid flights w/o crashes, undo the above mods and return to factory settings. it's really amazing, the difference. use the upper left controller button to switch to "mode 2" and you're gonna rip it up.
this little v911 is a great way to step up from coaxials. maintenance and replacing materials is much easier as well, compared to say, an s107. the only downside to this color scheme is finding parts to match. i dont see any of the lightning scheme replacement parts on the market yet.
I love this little heli. I wanted a up grade from the Syma models, but as a beginner, I didn't want to invest a lot of cash until I get better at it or lose interest. After flying this heli it really sparked my attention in the single rotor units. This heli is great for the beginner due to durability and craftmanship of this heli. You can not go wrong with this heli as a beginner or a champ. You will absoluty love it.
BalasHapus