Spinmaster Air Hogs - Air Hogs Reflex Micro Helicopter Pro: Orange/black/silver

Air Hogs Reflex Micro Helicopter Pro: Orange/black/silver | Spinmaster Air Hogs | Take this pocket-sized helicopter for a spin indoors or out. Features six-way directional control with left and right, up and down, twin rotors for stability, twin drive props for precise directional control, sled-style landing gear and flies indoors. LIPO battery and charger included. Measures 6"L x 6"H. : Spinmaster Air Hogs
Customer Review: Fun if you don't get a defective one
I started out my RC helicopter hobby by buying a Air Hogs "Havoc" model... a cheaper, lighter, more unstable, model with with no forward or backward motion control (but still lots of fun!) So I decided I wanted to upgrade to a model with more control and stability. The Air Hogs "Reflex" seemed to be the answer. : Spinmaster Air Hogs

So here's what happened when I first got it. After wrangling it out of the package (the packaging sucks and you literally need the jaws of life to open it ) I actually read the instructions (for once in my life). I charged the helicopter up (like it said in the instructions) and about 30 minutes later it was fully charged... or so it seemed. But when I powered it up with the controls, the helicopter would not hover more than a few inches off the ground. At this point I thought that perhaps it needed more charging... so I did what any geek would do: I let it run until the battery was completely dead (as to not evoke the dreaded "memory effect") and charged it once again. This time it remained charging for longer... about an hour. The charging cycle is automated by the way, and it's done when the red light in the back of the helicopter stops blinking. : Spinmaster Air Hogs
After the second charging cycle was done I tried to powered it up full throttle again and this time it was able to fly up about 3 feet off the ground... still very disappointing. To me, it seemed like the battery or motor was not able to provide enough power for full flight. Yeah, my helicopter was a defect... a dud. So what to do next? Well, I could return it and call customer support... but the thought of waiting on the phone for half an hour or more wasn't too appealing to me. : Spinmaster Air Hogs

So being the geek that I am... I decided to modify it. I cut the landing props off to make it lighter and "presto", it flew high all the way up to the ceiling. It flew and controlled as well as I initially hoped for... and flew for about 10 to 15 minutes. Now, I'm not recommending that you do this to yours if you get a defective one... but if you're as lazy and sick of customer service as I am... well, I'll just leave it at that. Also, here are some pros and cons about this helicopter: : Spinmaster Air Hogs

Pros:

-Pretty stable in the air compared to other small RC helicopters (like Havoc). More resistant to small drafts of wind.

-Right, Left, Up, Down, and Forward controls work pretty well.

-Helicopter blades fold upon impact to prevent damage.

-4 Spare Helicopter blades included


Cons:

-Prone to defects. Both me and a friend received defective helicopters.

-Long charge time (about an hour) relative to short play time (about 10 minutes)

-Helicopter blades should be more sturdy... they are prone to chips during crashes.

-It was a bit difficult at first to pop the blades back in if they pop off because the instructions are not very detailed. But they only come off during very horrible crashes.

Your Tags: havoc, indoor heli, rc heli, air hogs, helicopter, airhog reflex
Customer Review: Fragile
We flew our two constantly all day probably ten flights each and this is a long day watching the charger and pulling it of as soon as its ready to fly. The people who have said its durable just haven't flown it long enough. Our two lasted the one long day before the blades folded on a crash and chopped off the little stabalizer arms that look like tiny footballs on a toothpick. At about $60 for one day of fun (one flown by adults only) it is just too fragile. If anything other than a lifting rotor blade breaks then you're dead because the parts are not available. AirHog offer a whole new bladeless Helicopter for $35 plus shipping. So that could get the cost to $40 per day but you'd be better to buy an AirHog Havoc or a Bell mini. At least they're a lot cheaper and more controlable. Also, don't expect to be able to control the Reflex. Anyone who claims control is ignoring many failed attempts and bragging about one lucky attempt. The self stabalizing main rotors override the ting little thrust motors so you truly have no control. It'll wander around with you fighting it with minimal control until it ompletely falls out of the sky when the battery runs down or it hits something. One of ours flew ~OK and the other was totally unstable. We called AirHog and they said this happens and asked for the serial number and receipt and offered an exchange, it lasted one day. My call: Reflex is the wrong choice. Buy an AirHog Havoc or Bell Mini and get more control and they cost less than half what the Reflex does. : Spinmaster Air Hogs

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