Customer Reviews

Air Hogs Havoc Heli - Colors May Vary

5 star:		(148)
4 star:		(121)
3 star:		(38)
2 star:		(30)
1 star:		(66)

 

 

After seeing the commercials on TV I saw this toy (a grown up toy, in my case) down at Wallyworld and picked one up after I saw the fantastic price. For the paltry price of $25 I could fly my Havoc mini-chopper around furniture, take off and land on tables, buzz family members with high speed flybys, and drive the family pets nuts. My conclusions about the Havoc are somewhat different than what's portrayed on TV though. I've never delved into RC aircraft before, something I've always wanted to do but always viewed as an "expensive hobby" that I could always take up later on in life when I had more time and money to spend on it. But the Havoc was extremely reasonably priced so I figured "what the heck" and bought one.

The Havoc itself is extremely lightweight and surprisingly durable. So durable that even after catastrophic collisions with solid objects (walls, furniture, family members, etc) the little thing shrugs it off and keeps on flying without so much as a mark on the rotors. And so long as there isn't a breeze in the immediate area it's also rather agile.

The controls are very rudimentary for such a machine, and if you've ever used an RC car controller you'll be dealing with much the same thing here. The left toggle is your collective, which moves the Havoc up and down. The right toggle controls yaw, essentially your steering. Technically there should be a control toggle for pitch (forward/backward movement) and others have commented that it's absence detracted from the product. I agree to a certain extent, but will also say that it's tough enough trying to control the Havoc with the two provided, so I understand why it's not there. Along with this is an adjustment for trim, as well as a 3 channel selector switch so that up to 3 different Havocs can be flying in the same airspace without the choppers getting confused signals.

The Havoc has several problems which prevent it from achieving the critcally good rating I *want* to give it. For starters, despite there being a controller, the Havoc is virtually *uncontrollable*. The controls, as they are, are hyper-sensitive, especially the yaw/direction control. The unit will take off and can be finagled to hover in place for several moments before it invariably begins it's random exploration of whatever room you're in. Use of the direction control results in bizarre spinning of the helicopter, and as far as I can discern, don't have any use at all. The Havoc does move slightly forward as it goes, but again, without any realistic control of left/right, this means you're ultimately going to run into something as the Havoc spills to the floor. Others have complained about the short duration of the battery (I think the fine print on the back of the box says 6 minutes, although I think 4 minutes is a more realistic figure) although I can see no other way of reasonably increasing battery power duration without substantially increasing the weight of the helicopter itself, which would nullify everything it advertises.

The bottom line here is that you end up with a helicopter that does not behave as portrayed on TV. You have one that goes up and down and can hover pretty well, but that will ultimately behave in response more to the air currents in the room more than the input from your controller. Still, it's a lot of fun and is an extremely rugged little helicopter and will amuse you for hours at a time!

These helicopters are fantastic. The quality of construction is superb (meaning they can crash a lot and keep going) and they are incredibly fun to fly. I can't believe some of the less-than-perfect reviews I've seen here, especially the complaints that they are hard to fly. I suspect some of these folks were hoping to be Airwolf/Blue Thunder as soon as they opened the box. It doesn't work like that. Here are some tips:

There is an altitude control and a left/right control only. There is no means for making the helicopter go forward right out of the box. In order to make them go forward you have to add a small bit of weight to the end of the nose so the helicopter dips down a little bit in the front. There are a few stick-on pads included in the box just for this purpose but I've found they're not quite enough weight. I add all three pads centered on the bottom about a half-inch under the nose and then a little extra weight (half a small paperclip or a little wire) taped right to the tip of the nose. Too much weight and it'll go forward too fast. Experiment to see what you like best. I'd recommend getting comfortable with hovering and trim before you add anything though (and be sure to read the instructions for some great tips).

The helicopter when fully charged is almost too powerful. Once it runs for a minute or so the battery power drops off a tiny bit and flight becomes a *lot* more stable. Be patient.

It takes a *really* fine touch on the controls, working both at the same time, to get solid, consistent flight and you'll only get that with a lot of practice. I'd say most people can get good in about 6 full charge/fly cycles if they have some RC plane flying experience, maybe 8 if you have no prior experience. This helicopter is durable enough for you to learn on just remember to *NOT* try to fly out of impending crashes. Instead just kill the power and let it drop, you'll do a lot less damage to the chopper that way. Also, there is a tendency to want to move your body one way or the other when you think the chopper should go in a different direction (especially if it starts to get near a wall, I've seen my wife jerk the controller to the left or the right in a panic). If you find yourself doing this (because you're *really* getting into it ;-), remember that they fly on IR not radio so you need (for the most part) to keep the controller pointed at the helicopter. If you jerk it away it won't do anything other than reduce the signal to the chopper which will give you less control. In practice though we haven't really noticed any IR signal loss so maybe it isn't that big of a deal.

We have six of these between me, my kids, my Dad and my brother. We can all fly any of them with the skill shown in the Air Hogs commercial in my living room, which is about 15'x15'x12', so I believe anyone can get really good with these if you just practice (and it's tons of fun so it won't be a problem). If you have kids less than 10 years old you will probably want to show them how to be really gentle with the controls. Of course if they play video games they're probably already really good at that kind of thing. ;)

You can't go wrong with one of these for cheap entertainment but be careful, they're addicting. It's *really* easy to get hooked and want to go out and buy all three (which is what I did, sigh, my wife had to have her own too ;-)

I've really been enjoyiong my helicopter, but it definitely takes some time to learn and finesse to control. It's very sensitive to slight movements on the controller. I was having a hard time getting it to move forward until I added some weight to the front of the nose. I tried a few things, including a dime, which caused it to zoom forward and hit the walls before I could turn it. Then it tried taping bits of aluminum foil to the front, adding bit by bit until I got the right amount of forward motion. Now I can drive it around the house with great control. The best toy I've bought for under $[...] in a long time!

My first impression was chintzy remote and OK helicopter. I still think the remote is chintzy, but I absolutely love the copter. It took a bit of tweaking (as per instructions) to make it behave. No problem. After that, it was just too much fun. It survived some rowdy use at a party and it did run into things and experienced some severe mishaps including being swatted into a wall. It required super glue and re-tweaking post swat.

I wish it was quicker to charge and had controls for forward and back. I don't know how long the controller will last. It isn't built for the long haul like video game controllers are. On the other hand, it might outlast the copter given various mischievious impulses.

Note: the rotor should not be allowed to hit bare skin. It hurts. Some people will pretend it doesn't hurt, but will seek revenge.

This is probably the best flying experience I have had with rc helicopters. I mainly fly rc planes, and have a 200 dollar helicopter that does not even come close to the instant gratification this product produces. Other indoor helicopters are difficult to trim and tend to produce large amounts of downward draft that make it very difficult to take off. The Airhogs Heli flew right out of the box. Took a little trimming and the included weights for some forward motion, but overall very easy to fly. I would recommend this Heli to all looking to start flying RC helicopters. I have probable crashed it into every piece of furniture I own, but it keeps on flying. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

I really don't understand why anybody would be upset with this heli. I understand if it just plain didn't work, but what does everybody expect from this pint-sized chopper. It is not supposed to be a stunt heli with loops and rolls and such. I have had it for less than a day and I want more. I had it hovering and flying in less than 30 minutes. Yes it mostly flies up and down and spins. It is also greatly affected by air movement and yes the battery does run down fast. So what? It doesn't take long to charge up and then fly all over again and again. I have crashed it so many times now I lost count, it still works like new. Yes, I have to do the trim adjustment of the tail every few crashes, so what that takes 5 seconds to do. I was even worried about the IR instead of radio control, there has been no problem. In fact, it was worked so well, I am very, very surprised.

To put it simply, this is a fun toy. It is not a model aircraft. It is a flying toy. A great flying toy!

I have read a number of reviews regarding this heli. I have been flying radio control aircraft for about 10 years now. Never have I run across such a level of complexity in such a small package for such a small amount of money. I really got to hand it to the designers of this model. Flying radio controled anything takes a little savvy and patience in learning. Helis are even more difficult to fly than airplanes, but can be mastered with practice just as well. I found this little machine to be a real blast. I have never flown a heli before. I had this thing hovering in just a few minutes once I had the trim set. The trim will also change as battery power is used up. Not a huge problem, just expect a little difference in performance. If you do not use the nose weights provided the heli will only want to hover. I have all three weights on, one on top of the other placed at the nose and still need a little more to tip the heli nose a little downward to enable foreward travel. Little kids are not going to be aware of this and will find limited performance in the model if flying by themselves. With some adult help they will do better. The charge plug is delicate as it should be for this size model. I had a little trouble inserting the plug the first time. You really don't know how much pressure is needed till it finally snaps in. Make sure you have a perfect line up with socket and plug. After the first time it is much easier to connect now, and it stays in just fine too. My 4-1/2 year old daughter was bugging me to death to try it out. I just knew she was going to destroy it. The first time she flew it she really turned up the power. It flew straight up and hit the ceiling falling to the ground. No damage at all. This was repeated two more times. No damage. She had this thing flying as good as me in only two chargings. She hovers it around then makes it spin to the right then to the left. Her landings are a little rough yet, but overall she did great. The heli bumped off walls, floors, and lamps while she learned. No damage. The foam body absorbs impact well. The thing is so light and moves rather slowly it can't hurt much of anything it hits, especially itself. This little chopper takes top honors from us, a great little toy for sure. I bought three to give as presents (mostly to adults). I think with a little logic and common sense approach linked with some patience most people will really love this little guy. Oh Yes!!!

Tiny, fun and amazingly durable.

I came across this by chance whilst looking for the other product by SpinMaster, the Vectron UFO like flying disc. I decided to get instead as I have always wanted a RC helicopter but could never bring myself to spending the big money on a full blown one. At this price, the Air Hogs Havoc must be the cheapest RC heli around. Granted it's not really in the same league, but what a great introduction to RC heli. Remember this heli is about 7 inches long from the nose to the tail and hardly weighs anything.

It comes in a nicely package box as you would expect nowadays. Inside is the Heli, controller, spare tail rotor, some small sticker weights and instructions. The battery for the heli is embedded in its body and is recharged from the controller via a small cable. You will need 6AA batteries for the controller and rechargables seem fine.

The controller is a decent size even for adults (though you might want to extend the levers with a couple of small screws). It is a 4 way controller much like those for RC cars, up/down lever on the left for controlling the lift, left/right lever on the right for turning left/right. Note that it is not technically Radio Control ("R/C"). The controller actually has an ultrawide InfraRed transmitter (like your TV remote). But so far I have not had any transmission or reception problems. I am also quite impressed by the smoothness of the variable speed controls.

The heli construction and design is really quite amazing. They seem to have managed to create a precision engineered device that flies, yet very tough. Looking at the tiny rotor blades and the hairpin components holding it together, you would think it would break after the first crash. But not the case. Not to suggest you crash it on purpose, but so far it holding up well even after all my crashes.

It does take a while to get use to it. Initially I found it hard to stop it spinning round and round, but after a few goes and adjusting the trim (on the controller beneath the left lever) you can pretty much hold it steady in one spot in the air. Given only a 4 way controller, it is actually quite hard to control its forward and backward motion though with some practice you can get it to go in the general direction you want. The battery life is pretty good with probably up to 10 minutes of flight time which is plenty for zipping around the living room and attempting to avoid obstables etc. When the battery does runs out on the heli it pretty much stops dead. Back on the charger and 20 mins later (the controller actually indicates when charging is complete) back in the air.

I've had it a couple of days now and just can't stop playing with it. It is fantastically addictive and fun. Recommended for filling in those moments when you just want to take a 5 min break and your mind off things. Oh and I am sure the kids will love it too.

Length:: 0:45 Mins

Just want to say what a great invention this is, and unbelievably FUN for the money! And durable, we've flown it regular for the last 6 months. Ours has had some VERY hard crashes; many of them I thought "It's broke!", but it still flies great. I thought it was easy to learn, just takes a light and steady touch on the throttle, and just a TAP to "steer", that is rotate the direction you want to go. Launch away from walls, the rotor "wash" will pull it in. For the first minute, the power fluctuates some, then, it hits a "sweet spot" for several minutes. I can keep it flying the whole flight time (when one of our cats doesn't knock it down!). Don't be afraid to crash either. If it looks bad, best to kill the throttle and let it fall. Don't fly near people or animals' faces, use common sense; like anything, it could do harm if it hit someone, or something in the eyes. It helps to add weight to the front, a small piece of wire and some tape will do it. I wouldn't push something into the body, as a tack, it could damage the battery. You want just enough weight move ahead slow, experiment! You'll learn to work the "trim"; as the battery wears each flight, when you notice it start to turn on it's own, just a quick TAP the OPPOSITE way on the trim button to compensate will keep it straightened out; dynamic adjustment! One thing omitted from the instruction manual is you have to turn the handset on, to charge the copter. Make sure the copter is "OFF" & cooled down, then plug in the wire, it's small,& sometimes it takes a little wiggle, to keep the green charge light on. When the batteries get too weak in the controller, the red LED will look like it's pulsing, and it may not want to charge the copter. I like using rechargeable batteries in it. Another "hazard" is if the copter gets "out of sight" of the controller, as a fall behind a sofa. It 'remembers' the last command, so if that's throttle, it'll keep spinning until it "sees" the controller again. Just buy it!!!

This is a 2-channel remote control helicopter, meaning that you can only control up/down throttle and yaw left/right. There is no way to control forward/reverse motion, nor is there a way to bank left/right. This heli leans forward naturally and will lazily drift forward in flight. To stop it from moving in one direction, you need to flip it around, at which point (obviously) it will begin moving in the other direction. The only way to get this thing to do anything that resembles a hover is to make it spin in place.

This feature set would be just fine on a $10 toy. But this thing is $40, and is made of plastic. The only pros I can see here are that the blades are light and floppy enough that they won't take much damage if you smack them into a wall.

For much less money, I would highly recommend a V-Max 6020-1 (do an eBay search for that). They go for around $26 and they have 3 channels of control (throttle up/down, yaw left/right, and pitch forward/reverse). They have coaxial blades (two counter-rotating rotors) for a true stable hover. They have metal frames. They come with USB charger cables so you don't have to keep wasting AA batteries charging the helicopter off of your controller. And best of all, they have built-in gyroscopes for added yaw stability during forward/reverse flight. In my opinion, they're the best helicopters you can buy for less than $90.

As an owner of the Havoc Heli, a Swift 6020-1, and a Walkera Lama2-1 (a 4-channel micro coaxial helicopter that goes for around $90), I can say with confidence that you would be wasting your time and money buying anything less than 3 channels, especially if you're paying 3 channel prices for a 2 channel heli.