Syma S109G 3.5 Channel RC Helicopter with Gyro

I thank God that I don't fly anything with me in it because I crash this helicopter about a thousand times. I tell you this helicopter is extemely fun to fly, albeit a little slow. It was amazingly stable when it is hovering. Here are some of the things I notice about this toy:1) battery life(per charge): it last about 5 to 6 minutes, which is long enough for cat harassment. I have since bought other RC helicopter to keep me occupied. The charge taking about 30 to 40 minute. After reading other reviewer regarding overcharging, I am now more diligent and unplug the charge whenever it is done charging.2) operation: I like the simplicity of the control. The "drift" capability in other helicopter makes it more complicated to control. one thing I noticed is that as the helicopter flys toward you, it begin to slow down. Not sure why. I thought it might be due to the angle of the IR emitter. When it flys away, it picks up speed.3) durability: ultra, ultra durable. I crashed in the ceiling, curtains, walls, cats, more walls and still flying. The rotory blades are a bit worn but still holding up. I have nose-dived 20 to 30 times and nothing broke. On the contrary, I broke the landing skid on the new V911 in the first 30 seconds of flying. I have this helicopter for a month now and am still loving it.4) modification: the slowness of this helicopte annoyed me a bit so I decided to lop off the two side wings with the missiles and the two tail wings. It did make it fly faster, a lot faster. This translated into more furious crashes. I had to tape a penny on the back of the helicopter to balance it so that it hovers right. Also, remove/disengage the spring for the throttle so you can hover without actively pushing on the lever. That's a crash preventer!Summary: I love the way this helicopter banks and slides through the air. I also love the way it flys straight at you at eye level. It is like having a duel with yourself and see who flinches first, you or yourself. It makes a very good cat toys (for the human). The cat smacked at it a couple of times but the rotor wind and noise scared him.If you are looking for a cat toy, or a toy for your kids, this is the one to get. It looks mean, like a giant flying locust. I didn't think the coast guard version was as cool looking.

I've owned the S107, S108, and S109 and this is easily the best of the three indoor choppers at this price point, by Syma.Looks: This thing is, well, beautiful. The S107 looked kind of like a gyrocopter but because of the open back of the plastic cockpit, you could kinda see its innards so it still looked like a hobby toy (basically, crafted for function with a little form added).The 108, was mostly all covered and this made it look neat, however the crafting of the chassis, the color, and the decals looked like a dollar store toy.The 109, however, gorgeous. The thing has so much detail on it from separately painted dual tail propellers (just for show) and extra design on the top Apache engines. This looks like it was hand crafted to show off, and what a beaut it is.Function: For anyone who has owned similar choppers, you have a mental muscle memory for how these things should control and you adjust to it. For those new to these, if you've ever played a video game before where you flew a plane or raced a car, you know how a good flying game should respond so with that said, here's my analogy: The S107 controlled fairly well, nothing too crazy, however you had to really push it to do what you want, like oversteering in a driving game. Small movements required a lot of controller movements. The nice thing about that is it meant it never got away from you, however, it always felt like there was input latency. The 108 had a mind of it's own. That control scheme required many flights and crashes to learn where "just right" was for what you wanted it to do, felt like controlling a video game where the character is on ice where little controller input had big impact on direction (the inverse of the 107).The 109, however, is perfect. It feels like its doing exactly what I want it to do. It takes slight movements or big, and responds appropriately. It was the first one that felt perfect, no learning on the part of the pilot.If you're thinking of getting an RC plane for yourself or your kid, or a significant other, get them this one. Zero learning curve if they have ever used a video game controller because their mind already knows how input and output on a controller should work and this is the first Syma to emulate that perfect feel of total control yet.

I am probably a little above a true beginner, I had the itch to fly RC heli's years ago and bought a full size 3D heli. After building the thing I ran out of money and never purchased a radio and servos therefore I never flew it, during the build though I did purchase a computer RC aircraft simulator. I practiced on this simulator regularly before interests changed and the heli was put on a shelf. I have been eyeing these micro heli's for a while and finally pulled the trigger a couple weeks ago. I purchased the Syma 109G and 108G along with spare batteries, motors and rotors for each. I charged these up as soon as I received them, followed the advice of others and waited 5 minutes after charging to begin flying. These handle well out of the box and with no trimming or programming required I was up and flying around the room quickly. They are very durable, I had a few big crashes in the first two flights when I made a crucial error. I tried to fly out of a crash and damaged the lower rotor gear housing. due to the simple design of these things I found the damage and with some strategic super gluing I was able to fix the gear housing and get back flying. Point being, if you get into a crash drop the throttle and go pick up the heli and start over. Other than this issue I have yet to need the replacement rotors or any other parts, the upper rotors are ready to be replaced but it still fly's well so I am practicing full battery flights without crashing before I replace them.Solid design, easy to use and durable enough to survive crashes but not damage walls and such in the house when you crash.