Syma S102G 3.5 Channel RC Helicopter with Gyro

This was a gift for my four year old and we got a different model for our seven year old and I have to admit to being nervous about the durability with a four year old. Of course she learned to control the helicopter with me so it wasn't like I was turning her loose to dive bomb the cat and crash into a wall. The nice things about this model are that it is so much easier, smoother and slower for take off. Very easy to control versus the other models that we have used. This is easy to keep level, at a certain height and to take slow controlled turns. It's night and day compared to our other one in terms of how "touchy" the remote is for this. We love this and it has held up so well! It's been crashed more times than I can count (all controlled crashes of course). It was accidentally lowered quickly (dropped) from the second story to the first when I thought it was landing on a banister and it just keeps plugging away. The battery life is about 15 minutes now but it charges quickly. My only negatives would be: the charging cable and plug seem cheap and fragile, the helicopter doesn't sit stably when being charged, it doesn't do well outdoors...at all. We have fun with this, it's still used a lot and at the price point we couldn't have asked for more. I can answer questions but I am not an expert in this arena at all. Thanks!

My husband loves this helicopter. It comes packaged well in a box that is about 16 inches by 7 inches. The helicopter itself is about 7.5 inches. This a great size for my family and I feel like it is not so big that someone might get hurt. It is an indoor helicopter only. The wind really takes it. What is great is it durable and can take a crash well. I have two girls 3 and 1 years old. They want to have fun with daddy. They can grab the helicopter and bring back to the landing pad for daddy and the helicopter is fine. I was worried that they would not be able to even touch it. The helipad is great for them to know where the helicopter goes and great for my husband to remember that is a good place to land the helicopter instead of somewhere that might knock over something. To get started we used YouTube and the instruction manual. Those were great tools. You start by just trying to hover the helicopter. It takes some throttle to get it in the air so do not be too nervous to really push on the left button. Once you get it in the air play around with just going up and down. And our number one rule with small children is when things look dangerous like you might hit something or someone just let it drop. The helicopter can take it. We then started to try and go forward and back. We really struggled with this at first and remembered from a YouTube video that you have to adjust the middle knob. If you are spinning in circles you need to adjust the middle knob. My husband just turns it left and right and then lines it up in the middle. The helicopter should go forward and back very easily if the middle knob is adjusted. It usually needs adjusting after a big crash or a little girl really playing with it for a bit. This is a great father's day gift or birthday gift for someone that wants something different. I love using with my students in science class. The helipad was great for my students to know where to land the helicopter and I gave them bonus points for how close they could get to landing it. It avoided making bad choices with landing it on a friend. We did receive this product for free for an honest review. Here is a link to the helipad we have: Remote Control Helicopter Landing Pad - Complete Edition - LED Lights Installed - Suitable for RC Helicopters, Quadcopters, Drones, Syma Helicopters

These Syma Helicopters provide hours of fun they are well built they fly great. in my opinion you will not fit a better flying helicopter in this price range. I have a 4 or 5 different models and this S102G Military version flew just as good as all the others. the only down side is the wheels are a little flimsy. After a few to many hard landings one of the front wheels broke off. This made it impossible to take off from the ground as it would not sit level. I like the Helicopters with the skis as they seem to hold up longer and bounce a little better on those hard landings. If you believe in your flying skills and can keep the landings soft then this is a great model and tons of fun to fly.

I've always been a huge R/C lover with a small budget. I loved nothing more than getting an R/C car or helicopter when I was a little kid, and would play with it for weeks on end. After rediscovering my interest in all things R/C again, I decided to take the plunge and start with Syma. This may just be the greatest $20 I've ever spent in my life, there's nothing bad about this product, at all. I couldn't think of one even if I was paid to do so. First of all, the packaging was top-notch. Upon receiving it, you're really not sure if you've just purchased a budget R/C toy or some hobby enthusiast's prized possession. Everything's strapped in tight, yet easy to remove when it comes down to it. It even comes with a smaller propeller as a replacement (As I remember I had quite a few issues in the past with the smaller rotors being damaged). Talking about replacements, on the manual you can find an extremely handy replacement parts list for everything on the helicopter and controller. Say goodbye to searching Google for hours on end, it couldn't be handier for that one bump too many! THe helicopter itself is the prize here. There's two rotors and a gyroscope that helps make this helicopter feel like a premium product. The main rotor controls the central blades to provide lift, and the smaller one at the back provides the forward/backward movement. The gyroscopes helps the helicopter to turn left and right extremely smoothly. It's hard to tell the difference between this model and a real helicopter with how smoothly it flies. There's no awkward finger movements to try and counter rugged and sudden movement, it can hover very happily, turn very smoothly or fly forwards in a very straight line. The controller feels comfortable in your hands, the controls are fine tuned and there's no dead zones, and best of all, with the USB cable provided, you don't need the controller to charge up the helicopter, just plug it into any kind of USB socket! It's a lifesaver for those AA batteries in the controller. It's very durable, it flies great, it has a pretty great flying time (I've gotten around 10 minutes flying time on 45-60 minute charges), looks superb and at this price, it's a steal.

The RC Helicopter itself is 5 stars. For the price the unit is great. If you are used to the S107G this unit will be less "touchy", the body makes this unit a little more stable and a little easier to fly. Yes all Symas are made in China but of the options available they are one of the best for the beginner especially at a low budget. They also have an abundance of spare parts. These are also very sturdy for their size and easy for children to learn on and use. ONE STAR The reason for the one star is the controller. The unit appears to be a 3.5 channel RC (this means that at least three of them can fly at once) however the controller is an old two channel controller (A & B). Useless for flying more than two of these. Apparently we will need to buy the three channel controllers directly from Syma. syma-rc.com/Syma-Spare-Parts/Syma-S107G-Spare-Parts/Syma-S107G-Remote-Control

While it worked, I loved this thing. My kids would be entertained for minutes on end (the battery would last for about 10 min at a time) just watching me fly it. At one point, the bottom rotor stopped turning, so I looked it up online and found out the gear had slipped out of place. It took about 30 minutes to disassemble everything, put the gear in place, and put it all back together. Not a big deal. But then about a month later, it just stopped being able to ascend. Normally about 40% throttle is where it needs to be to maintain flight, but I would put it up to 100% and it would barely skip off of the floor. Everything seemed to be working, the blades (visually at least) seemed to be spinning at the same rate, but without the lift. So after trying several ways of charging it, thinking that maybe the battery wasn't getting a full charge, I just had to give up. While it worked, it was a lot of fun for me and my kids, but after about a month or so of use, it just wasn't usable anymore. Too bad. I'd like to get another, but I don't want something that only works for a month.

Note to parents - the manufacturer suggests this is appropriate for youngsters 14+ and it be flown indoors only outside of drafts and any strong ventilation such as A/C, fans etc. Recommended open flying space is 600 sq feet with a 10 foot ceiling. (think restaurant dining room size) Cons out of the box - -Instructions are in badly translated English "When the helicopter received the transmit, the led of circuit board will turn light"As other reviews noted I too had connectivity problems with the R/C that went away by reinserting the 6 x AA batteries (not included). Pros - It's a lot of fun and has survived so far. I've become pretty good at flying it around my narrow living room. It's a pretty delicate toy I'd suggest a carpeted area for flight school otherwise the landing gear will be the first to go. This is my first flying toy since last using a Cox airplane on a string as a kid. Some guy in a hobby shop suggested I only try to fly 4" off the floor for the first few flights until I got the feel of it and the advice served me well. For the small price paid I'm very happy. I know it won't last very long but considering the last time I went to the movies and got popcorn and a drink I spent about the same $.

This helicopter is twice as fun as I would have expected. It's like instant hobby in a box. I thought it was going to be a toy, and it turned out to be a very functioning miniature helicopter. Duh, right? Well, until you've messed around with one of these you might not know what I mean. After flying it around for a little while, having survived numerous crashes, it becomes an obsession to try and land it on a certain coffee table, speaker top, chair, etc. It's just a lot of fun, and I could see it being a run away hit for Christmas gift giving. It would make KILLER stocking stuffers for everyone, not just the kids. By aware, the spinning rotors could be dangerous to eyes, fingertips/paws, ears, and noses. This is by far the best value I've had for under twenty bucks in a very long time. I own six of these now and the first one I bought is flying as well as the last one I bought. If you have more than several of these, buy yourself a double USB wall charger so you can always keep at least one unit charging while playing with the others.