Category:
Hobby or Toy
Product:
Air Hogs R/C - Havoc Heli
Price:
$24.95
Manufacturer Description:
Easy to fly, four way control indoor helicopter. Fly In any Room! Flies for over 10 minutes on a single charge!
Manufacturer website:
Source of Product:
Christmas Gift – WalMart
First Thoughts:
This is probably going to break the first time it's crashed.
I don't have a scale to measure accurately how light this is but it's lightweight enough it isn't going to knock anything over or injure anyone if crashed inside unless you were to hit someone it the face.
The packaging claims flights of over ten minutes which seems like it could be an over exaggeration.
The package claims 8+ years, I hope I'm not too old at 31. It also says "There is a risk of the batteries exploding..." and several other useful pieces of information to the parent, all in small print one the back of course.
Although is says RC on the package the helicopter is not radio controlled it is infrared controlled. RC seems to be slipped in as part of the brand name. This isn't an issue if you define 'RC' as remote controlled.
Also, four way control seems a bit misleading. There are four directions to control: up, down, spin left, and spin right. This isn't a four axis helicopter by any means of the imagination.
Package Contents:
Havoc Heli(tm), Transmitter, 2 Spare Tail Propellers, Aluminum labels, Instruction manual
Review:
The manual is a pretty east read, it isn't blatantly obvious that this is a Chinese product. After reviewing the instruction manual several times it gives no description as to what the aluminum labels are for. I'm guessing they may be provided to change the balance of the helicopter.
The manual gives instruction to wait 10-15 minutes before charging the battery, I'm assuming after flying it. This may be where a younger one would run into trouble with the battery exploding. The battery is encased in Styrofoam which not only provides unwanted insulation but does not give you access to check the temperature of the battery. The charger is part of the controller so regulating when the helicopter is charged could be a problem for parents.
I received two extra tail propellers in my box rather than the one listed in the manual. Three propellers including the one on the model. I'm assuming this is a breakable component. There is not a way to order more propellers listed in the manual. Perhaps they will outlast the life of the toy, but I doubt it. Searching for replacements on eBay looks to be confusing. I found lots of look alike helicopter models, all within the 20-50 dollar price range.
After flying the helicopter a few times it seems difficult to control. The manual says "the helicopter will take a slow forward speed when a gentle clockwise turn is made." I'm not seeing this happen at all. The helicopter goes up and down but the back propeller control seems to make it spin about randomly. Perhaps with more practice...
Also, the tail rotor seems to catch hair in it when I'm unlucky enough to crash it into a corner. The back propeller pulls off so it's pretty easy to clean. It was spinning about wildly before the hair was removed.
The controller and the helicopter will both power off automatically when left on for about 5 minutes. The Controller seems to sense if it's charging or not and when left on charging the helicopter it will automatically turn off when done, saving on battery power. I'm curious as to how long the 6 AA batteries will last. I installed Duracell batteries so I think the time of use should be at the high end.
After flying the helicopter about ten times I'm pretty certain the thing is unusable 'as is' so I stuck a small tack into the nose to try to get the helicopter to pitch and fly forward. I was careful to not push it in to deeply as it might hit the battery. I think the battery would be near the center of gravity anyway.
Success! The helicopter now flies like the manufacturer states in the instruction manual. I didn't think to try the aluminum labels to balance the helicopter but at least the push pin is removable so that I can try placing the weight in different spots. It now seems to lurch forward a little but A little more balancing should correct it.
On about the 15th flight and I don't know how many bad landings (crashes) the tail rotor started to crack near the center. I don't expect the propeller to last much longer. The main blades are made of a thicker plastic than the tail rotor. This seems like engineered fragility to me.
The tail rotor broke apart on New Years Eve, go figure. 
It's working fine after replacing the propeller.
I'll update this more in a week or so.
Final Thoughts:
Overall I think this is a cool toy. I've since seen the adds on TV and it's not THAT cool. Maybe to an eight year old.
The controllability of the helicopter leaves much to be desired. With only a two axis controller you can get it to float around in a general direction.
It's worrisome that there is no way to order more tail propellers. I think a kid could have all of the propellers broken in the first week which makes this a toy I wouldn't expect a child to have around for long. It is mostly made of styrofoam after all.
