Japanese toy giant Tomy says it’s about to roll out the next generation in tiny copters, and it’s calling this one the Heli-Q. The company says this is the world’s smallest radio controlled toy helicopter, but other than its smaller size, its specs seem similar to those of Picco-Z Styrofoam helicopters we’ve flown before . The Picco-Z took a 20-minute charge of its battery to give us an eight-minute flight, but Tomy conservatively says this Heli-Q will fly for five minutes on each charge.
Product Features
- Remote-controlled helicopter with 4-way control for flying in any direction with accuracy
- Flies up to 100 feet high; flashing blue LED light for night flying
- Flexible, high-impact EPP foam body
- Rechargeable LIPO battery provides 6 minutes flight time from single charge
- Remote requires 6 “AA” batteries (not included)
The Havoc Heli has twin rotors for stability and four-way control for flying in any direction with accuracy — up, down, under, over, left, right, forward and backward. Like a real helicopter, the Havoc can hover in one spot. It even manuevers through the toughest of obstacles. Intended for indoor use, the helicopter operates outdoors with zero wind conditions, and can fly up to 100 feet high in the air. The Havoc Heli is also equipped with a flashing blue LED light for night flying.
Friendly competition
Not just for flying solo, the Havoc Heli is designed for fun with your friends. With three selectable frequencies, up to three Air Hogs helicopters can fly in the same room at the same time. Beyond flying for fun, the hook attachment on the bottom of the helicopter picks up objects for top secret racing missions — with or againsts friends.
Review
Wow, this is an amazing toy, I can’t believe that the little guy can fly and is so stable! Mine worked perfectly out of the box, was stable, flies great indoors. Takes a bit of time playing with it to get used to the controls, and starts out just hovering. To get some forward motion you need to bend the tail boom clockwise a bit when looking from the back toward the front of the helicopter or add a bit of weight to the front of the ‘copter, both actions result in the ‘copter tilting a bit forward and thus creating a bit of forward motion.
Note that this is a 2-channel copter, you control up/down and clockwise/counterclockwise rotation. With the technique described above you get a constant forward motion, and the clockwise/counterclockwise rotation can then turn you right and left.
These helicopters are fantastic. The quality of construction is superb (meaning they can crash a lot and keep going) and they are incredibly fun to fly. I can’t believe some of the less-than-perfect reviews I’ve seen here, especially the complaints that they are hard to fly. I suspect some of these folks were hoping to be Airwolf/Blue Thunder as soon as they opened the box. It doesn’t work like that. Here are some tips:
There is an altitude control and a left/right control only. There is no means for making the helicopter go forward right out of the box. In order to make them go forward you have to add a small bit of weight to the end of the nose so the helicopter dips down a little bit in the front. There are a few stick-on pads included in the box just for this purpose but I’ve found they’re not quite enough weight. I add all three pads centered on the bottom about a half-inch under the nose and then a little extra weight (half a small paperclip or a little wire) taped right to the tip of the nose. Too much weight and it’ll go forward too fast. Experiment to see what you like best. I’d recommend getting comfortable with hovering and trim before you add anything though (and be sure to read the instructions for some great tips).
The helicopter when fully charged is almost too powerful. Once it runs for a minute or so the battery power drops off a tiny bit and flight becomes a *lot* more stable. Be patient.
It takes a *really* fine touch on the controls, working both at the same time, to get solid, consistent flight and you’ll only get that with a lot of practice. I’d say most people can get good in about 6 full charge/fly cycles if they have some RC plane flying experience, maybe 8 if you have no prior experience. This helicopter is durable enough for you to learn on just remember to *NOT* try to fly out of impending crashes. Instead just kill the power and let it drop, you’ll do a lot less damage to the chopper that way. Also, there is a tendency to want to move your body one way or the other when you think the chopper should go in a different direction (especially if it starts to get near a wall, I’ve seen my wife jerk the controller to the left or the right in a panic). If you find yourself doing this (because you’re *really* getting into it ;-), remember that they fly on IR not radio so you need (for the most part) to keep the controller pointed at the helicopter. If you jerk it away it won’t do anything other than reduce the signal to the chopper which will give you less control. In practice though we haven’t really noticed any IR signal loss so maybe it isn’t that big of a deal.
You can’t go wrong with one of these for cheap entertainment but be careful, they’re addicting. It’s *really* easy to get hooked and want to go out and buy all three (which is what I did, sigh, my wife had to have her own too!
Click here to find this best price for this copter
There are two different Mosquito RC Helicopters available, Syman Mosquito and Interactive Toy’s Blade Runner Mosquito. The Syman Mosquito has thicker blades like the Reflex while Interactive Toy’s Blade Runner Mosquito has thinner blades which tend to be very fragile. The Syman copter is very durable since I’ve crashed it a few times but the only reason I’ve crashed is because of the remote. Unlike the Mosquito itself, the controller is just plain cheap. The directional control stick is a little loose and sometimes the helicopter will take off when I’m not touching any control at all. When it is working (which by the way is most of the time), the Mosquito hovers very well and is pretty maneuverable. After the first few charges, the battery seems to charge faster, from 45-50 minutes to 20-25 minutes and still have over 10 minutes of flight time. Overall the Syman Mosquito is a great step up from a Picco Z or FireFly micro helicopter.
Syman Mosquito Score
Helicopter Quality - 3 out of 5
Remote - 1 out of 5
Blade Quality/Durability - 3 out of 5
Battery - 4 out of 5
Maneuverability - 3 out of 5
Overall Quality - 3 out of 5
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