I have bought four of these little Skymaster 777s and they rule. Super stable, very responsive to controls. They scoot along in forward motion pretty quickly and they jink from side to side using the controller shoulder buttons. These little guys are the best indoor helicopters out therethe Syma S107 is junk in comparison. No joke. They've also got an awesome LED in the tail that alternates blinking from red to blue and a white LED in the nose is so bright you can fly around dark rooms and it's like the thing is a floating MAG LITE. I can't recommend this model enough!
This is my third office helicopter I also have the Syma S107 and the JXD Drift King. I had the highest hopes for this one, but sadly, it is the least flyable of the three. It does have one more channel/direction of control than the S107 (and the same as the Drift King), but the control logic is flawed, making it very unstable.
If you're new to gyroscopic helicopters, they generally all have spinning weights on a balance bar, which is connected by a link system to the main rotor. The main rotors are generally dual-rotors on concentric, hollow shafts, and each is geared to it's own motor. The gyro system, when the links are correctly attached, and the when the rotors are trimmed to the same speed, makes the helicopter somewhat stable, the same way a spinning gyroscope has stability. A tail rotor, pointed upward, gives forward/aft control. These design features are all incorporated into the SkyMaster.
Where the SkyMaster differs from most other mini RC models, however, is the plastic molded sponsons on each side, each of which houses a fan for side movement (strafing).
--Controls are as follows--
*Left stick increase and decrease main rotor speed. This increases or decreases altitude. Unlike the S107, there is no return spring on the main rotor stick, so when you release the lever, it stays at the same throttle setting. You can decide if this is a feature or a bug. I prefer a spring.
*Right stick L/R Differential speed of main rotors. This yaws the helicopter (by slowing down either the top or bottom rotor and speeding up the other to maintain lift).
*Right stick up/down tail rotor. Fwd pitches the nose down, causing the main rotor to pull the heli forward.
*Left and right buttons (at top of controller) Activate sponson motors, rolling the heli, in turn causing the heli to slide left or right.
Controller also includes trim and three-channel selector.
--Pros--
Heli strafes. Three-channel helis cannot do this, and tend to be unstable in sliding left to right when precise control is desired. For instance, landing on a CD or small book. Strafe control is better with sponson fans than with the Drift King "bent shaft" style helicopters. Way better. The S107 doesn't strafe at all at least not intentionally.
The SkyMaster is less prone to IR interference from fluorescent lights. The S107 won't run in my office unless the lights are off. (The Drift King is almost invulnerable to the lights in the office.)
This chopper spins FAST. The yaw rate is about 2-3 times faster than other 8" birds. This is both a pro and a con, because while it looks cool and spins really quickly, it makes it hard to turn to a specific heading without overshooting or undershooting.
Cooler lights than the other two choppers. The S107 has a red/blue flasher on front. Lame. The Drift King has a bunch of random, erratic, multicolored lights. Just confusing. The SkyMaster has a red/blue flasher pointed down from the tail motor, and a VERY bright white LED facing forward. And there's another red LED on the gears. Legit.
Metal fins. The other helicopters have plastic fins on the tail gussets and at the tail "rudder." However, the stamped steel bends in a crash, so I expect it to last just about as long as the plastic ones before it gets strain-hardened and breaks off.
The balance bar's motion is limited. This is good. On both the S107 and Drift King, if you rotate the helicopter too quickly while the main rotor is spinning (which generally means manipulating the helicopter with your hand, as it cannot generally do this on its own), then the balance bar will slam into the lower rotor. This damages the leading edge of the blade, in addition to quickly ending the current flight. On the SkyMaster, the balance bar cannot pivot far enough to hit the lower rotor. So you can hold down full throttle with the helicopter in your hand, and rotate it in every possible direction, and the weights will never hit the blades.
--Cons--
The SkyMaster vibrates badly. Out of the box, the main shaft on my heli was unbalanced, so it makes the sponsons vibrate wildly.
Heli is very unstable. The main problem is with the yaw axis. If you command full left or right spin, instead of slowing one rotor down and speeding the other up, it completely shuts off power to one rotor. It seems to maintain altitude during the yaw, but as soon as you let off the spin, it tries to restore the original spin rates to the rotors, but it doesn't gradually lower the power to the fast rotor the result, after a super quick spin, it drops out of the air.
Not enough tail authority. The tail fan (and motor) are undersized, so it doesn't pitch the helicopter enough to move forward quickly, and it barely reverses at all. The Drift King wins in this area, with a bitchin' turbo mode where the tail has so much authority that it sometimes overpitches the chopper and causes the balance bar to hit the main rotor, resulting in an immediate crash.
Additionally, the signal from the controller seems laggy, so it behaves as if the controls are sticky. You stop pressing forward on the stick, but it takes a second to respond. Sounds trivial, but it's really annoying to deal with, and makes precise control almost impossible.
The legs for the skids are not removable, in contrast to the other two models. One fall from > 5 feet will give you a permanent low-weight mod, since the skids will stay on the ground on your next takeoff. But then you can't ever replace them, since they are molded to the body that holds the circuit board.
In summary, if you want a basic helicopter, get the S107, as it's less expensive and more stable. If you want to fly sideways, your choice is between the SkyMaster and the Drift King. This model has slightly better strafe control and authority, but the Drift King has better overall control and maneuverability. And the Drift King doesn't drop out of the sky every time it spins.
Buy SkyMaster 7- Inch Mini RC Remote Control Helicopter, 4 Channel Infrared Remote Control Built-In Gyr Now
This helicopter is easy to manuever. My husband and kids are having a blast with it. Just what I expected.
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i bought one of these and it is a lot of fun, i looked forward to mastering it. The problem is the plastic component on the main rotor that stabilizes the upper rotor to the gyro broke(easily) and it is difficult to find replacement parts. So I have an expensive paper weight.
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I bought this for my 11 year old daughter. Between her and my husband, this was a huge success as a Christmas gift. The two of them are working together on how to steer it better and what tricks can be done...each trying to out do the other. So much fun to watch!
I picked up a couple of these batteries as spares for my Canon digital camera (Powershot G5)--for the price of a single Canon battery.
