Whether your thing is launching air-based assaults over a cubicle wall on your hapless coworkers, tormenting your pets with low flying buzz missions, or the simple enjoyment flying around performing cool tricks and maneuvers, there’s now a huge range of great and affordable RC helicopters available to let you do just that without breaking the bank.
Once a horrendously expensive and esoteric hobby, RC helicopters are now available right up the price range, and there’s a great deal of toy-style copters that can either be a stepping stone to the more pro models, or as in mine and my friends cases, can offer enough fun and versatility to let you enjoy the hobby cheaply and accessibly.
The Air Hogs Helix 360 represents the cream of the crop of these toy-grade RC helicopters. Just like most of the cheap RC helis available, it’s small, light, made of plastic (but still very durable for indoor flight) and has a small battery that charges right off the controller. What sets the Air Hogs Helix 360 apart from the rest is the introduction of 4 channels of control. With most RC Helicopters only using 2 channels, which allow them to go up and down and turn, adding in an extra two channels of control means increasing tenfold the maneuvering and fun that can be had with this cool little ‘copter.
Check this video for an example of what the Air Hogs Helix 360 can do.
What this means is, with this little powerhouse you can perform just about any maneuver or flight pattern a normal helicopter can. Or in more practical terms, with other RC helicopters you can buzz over your coworkers head, annoying them ever so slightly. With the Helix 360 you can hover down to eye level, strafe around their head, clip their mustache with your rotor blade, land on their coffee cup (just to taunt them even further) then retreat to a safe distance out of their reach, increasing their annoyance and your satisfaction by fathoms. It’s just that cool. Your cat will regret pooping on the rug, your dog will rue the day he chewed up those Julius Marlowe’s.
It takes a bit of time to get used to the controls, and you might find yourself crashing into walls a bit, as the draft from the rotor tends to ‘suck’ the helicopter towards the wall. Luckily with the four channels of control you’ve got the manoverability to get out of the wall-suck-vortex, but it takes some skill. However, you’ll find after just a few flights you’ll start getting the hang of it. After a day of buzzing around your bedroom you’ll be ready for a full scale assault on the cubicle farm.
One thing I didn’t like was the charge times, you’ll get about 5 minutes of flight time from about 30 minutes of charging. This is pretty typical for this style of RC Helicopter, but it just felt soooo long due to how fun and exciting flying the Air Hogs Helix 360 can be.
Overall, I fell in love with this little ‘copter, it really brings back a child-like sense of fun and excitement flying it around, and it didn’t break the bank. It has survived many crashes already with no damage, although being made of plastic means it won’t last forever. I haven’t seen replacement parts online, but at the price I paid I would have no qualms buying another if it broke. Additionally, there’s lots of cool mods you can do to this copter to make it fly and control better, and guides for repairing common damages.
You can pick up the Air Hogs Helix 360 on amazon for around 80 bucks.
