Syma S107/S107G R/C Helicopter with Gyro- Red

We purchased the Syma S107/S107G R/C Helicopter (Red) for my son's birthday. The list price for $130 is absurd. At $20, it is well worth the money. It comes with a remote control, the helicopter, and a USB cable for charging. The remote control takes 6 AA batteries. The helicopter must be charged before using. It takes 40 minutes to an hour to charge while hooked up to a USB port on your PC. On a full charge, it runs for about 6 minutes non-stop flying. So that's about 60 minutes of charging for 6 minutes of flight! At first, I thought that was awful. But I've adjusted nicely to a routine of flying it here and there throughout the day just for a short period of entertainment.It is fun to fly. The blades look very delicate, so be careful not to crash it! I have hopped it a few times off the ground trying to land. But the frame seems durable although very lightweight. Two lights flash on the nose of the helicopter when it is ready for flight. It has an on/off switch opposite the USB charging port. My on/off switch is kind of finicky. Sometimes the lights do not come on when we flip it to the "on" position. So we just gently apply some pressure to the switch with a finger, and it activates the lights.Overall, you can't beat it for $20. It is a VERY fragile, tiny RC helicopter. It is perfect for beginners or people looking to have fun flying a cheap, indoor model. It's lots of fun! Just don't break it.UPDATE: After a week of flying, one of the blades chipped. It still flies OK with the chip, but I went ahead and ordered more blades. You can find them here: SYMA Replacement Set of Main Rotor Blades for S107 Red Part S107-02UPDATE: Replacement blades showed up. The screws that hold the blades to the rotor are TINY! The only Phillips-head screwdriver that would work was a tiny one that came with my eye glasses. Those screws are incredibly small! But I was able to get it loose and slip the new blade in place.I've been flying this toy for a few weeks now, and crashed it several times. The reason is that maneuverability decreases substantially as battery power weakens. At the end of each session, the helicopter is literally 5 inches off the floor while I do some daredevil maneuvers to squeeze the last drop of juice out before a recharge. It's fun, and I found that crashes lower to the ground at slower speeds are relatively harmless to the helicopter.UPDATE: It's been 6 weeks of flying now. The helicopter is still great fun to fly, but it seems to lose its ability to climb in altitude quicker now after a full charge. I'm not sure if it because winter has brought thinner air to Idaho or what. But something is causing the helicopter to struggle to gain altitude after only about 2 minutes of flying. Still fun though!UPDATE: We had 4 good months out of this tiny helicopter. It was fun to play with. Now the USB charger lights up indicating a full-charge, but when we go to fly it, it won't lift but 6 inches off of the ground. I don't see any damage to the helicopter itself, so it must not be charging to full capacity. We enjoyed it enough to say it was worth the price. Too bad it didn't last longer than 4 months.UPDATE: Found the problem! The battery degraded to a point where it will not recharge. It heats up in flight and I was also plugging it in right away after flying without giving time for the battery to cool down. Sometimes I even left it charging for hours after it was fully charged. The heat ruined the battery. Found another battery on Amazon. Syma S107 / S107G Upgrade 3.7V Lithium Polymer 240 mah Battery for Remote Control Helicopter Helizone RC Firebird Cut the wires and spliced this new battery in. This is a slightly stronger battery. Slightly larger as well. It fits though. Helicopter flew great with this new battery. We're back in the air again!UPDATE: Had this helicopter for about 10 months now. Spent about $10 on replacement parts to keep it in the air. Had about a month or so of down time. We crashed it pretty hard in our basement the other day. The stabilizer on the tail cracked and broke off. I ordered a small parts kit for a few dollars. Full Set Replacement Parts for Syma S107 RC Helicopter, Main Blades, Tail Decorations, Tail Props, Balance Bar, -Red Set- Replacing the stabilizer wasn't too difficult. Just a couple of tiny screws. Still flying!FINAL UPDATE: After almost a year of flying, I can give a fair evaluation of this helicopter. The price is perfect for almost anyone to purchase and enjoy. As long as you do not purchase a defect, you have a great chance of getting a few months of great fun! This is not a RC that has a super long shelf life. You will have to do repairs to it to keep it flying. You will crash it. It's perfect for taking the first step into RC helicopters. I hope they release an upgraded version that has more power, durability, and a longer shelf life.

I'm a 20 year old nerd, I've had my share of Christmas RC helicopters that break the day after Christmas. This guy is FUNDAMENTALLY different from those. (Note when I talk about other helicopters I will use [brackets])1. Dual rotors - on [regular RC helicopters, you have one rotor that provides lift, while the other provides anti-torque to keep the helicopter pointing (generally) in the same direction.] This heli has two main rotors which turn in opposite directions to cancel out the torque, this leaves the back rotor able to adjust pitch ([something you don't get with the other kind])2. Pitch control - The back rotor is able to adjust pitch (forward and backwards) [something that crappy heli's NEVER have]. [I remember adding little metal stickers to the nose of my RC heli on Christmas morning because it would fly backwards.]3. Construction - I was amazed to find that this is an almost completely metal construction. Yes, the rotors and gears are plastic, however, the entire frame is aluminum this makes an incredibly durable product. I am very careful with it but it's had a good deal of wince-worthy crashes.4. Price - Amazing, especially for the quality do yourself a favor and get one for yourself and one for a friend. This is better than Brookstone quality (and a million times better price)5. Battery - Average, you'll get about a 7-10 minute flight per charge. About average in the indoor RC helicopter world. It comes with a USB charger and one from the remote for on the go, charges in about 20 minutes.6. Appearance - Great, has a red and a blue LED that flash when the thing is on. The body looks great; metal and hi-gloss plastic "cockpit".7. Control - Fighting the laws of gravity generally take a bit of skill. That being said this thing is pretty darn easy. You can control throttle (up and down), pitch (forward and back), and yaw (point left and right), NO roll (standard). Nice smooth throttle stays where you put it allowing great hovering. The pitch control will affect your altitude slightly. You have no control of roll which can get a bit frustrating if you want to do VERY complex things but shouldn't affect your experience if you're new to flying things. The top rotor is a stabilizer which will try to to pull your heli into a stationary hover, this leads to a little sideways drift here and there after tight turning but again, only a pilot would notice. The yaw controls are nice and tight, the dual rotor allows for immediate turning with nice sharp beginnings and and ends. The trim also can help if you're slightly turning while hovering.7b. Outdoors - No, because this is a simple helicopter without a swashplate, you're left at the mercy of the wind. This thing is small so it will easily be swept up by a breeze and deposited somewhere other than you wanted to go. (I have a moderately sized apartment and it provides me with enough room to do some fun maneuvers.8. Age - if you're buying for a small child I would encourage you to do it, you can't go wrong, if they can't handle the controls you can always take over. Either way it's a fascinating toy for a kid.This does require fine motor skills, if your child can use a mouse dexterously, they can probably handle the throttle. It also requires a bit of spacial awareness; If they can understand how to drive an RC car, they can probably handle the steering. And finally, it requires some responsibility; if your child likes breaking things, maybe avoid this. If you raised your child well (which let's face it, you probably did considering you're looking to buy them a smart toy) go for it, I hope you spark their imagination and creativity.9. Payload - fully charged, you can string a very light payload underneath. We're talking probably less than an ounce (think a small green army guy) BALANCE IS EVERYTHING. Try to get the center of mass of the payload directly below the rotor shaft. (alternatively you can slip a small straw onto the bottom rails of the heli which you can use as a lance to push army guys over) Any altering of the balance could lead to an unstable heli and a crash.10. Saftey - It's a flying bundle of plastic blades, not a plush toy. Treat it correctly and you should be fine. Small children generally want to touch things (it's how they learn) try to give them a brief lesson in saftey before giving them the controls or flying it around them. Avoid the face but otherwise the worst injury incurred will be a simple boo-boo (nothing some kisses can't fix)11. Overall - I was really impressed by this I would recommend it to anyone. I would value it at more like $40-$70 so the price it's at now is a STEAL.