Customer Reviews

Air Hogs Switchblade 27 MH Black/Yellow

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

So, I have gotten my son almost every air hog there is and all the flying ones stink. This is the first one that actually flies somewhat decently, however, we had to go play with it on a football field. You need a lot of room.....I mean A LOT of room. First let me say that I found this to be very durable. This dropped easily 50 feet into the hard dirt many times and it still works (they do give you extra parts). If you are unfortunate enough to break the styrofoam, you are done. I was unable to get a launch with the launch holder but was very successful with a manual launch. A word of caution here: although it is styrofoam, beware, this is a dangerous toy. The props are quite strong and caught the inside of my palm that almost gave me a two inch cut. Though it did not break the skin, my hands are fairly tough, and I believe it would have easily cut through softer skin, especially a childs. I would keep children close and behind you in case you need to deflect it. Some words of advice for an easier launch, send it up in a twist (it's actually fun to let it climb and try to make it hover) then press the mode button when it is at least 30 feet up and then practice steering. Try to find a big field, because it will hit the hardest when it is in flying mode (versus the twisting helicopter type mode). I don't know how easy it would be for a 10 year old, as I had to take a lot of time to get even basic controls working. The worst part is that once you get fairly comfortable the battery dies out and you need to recharge it. That's frustrating. Those are all worth a total deduction of 2 stars. Still, it is fun, and your kids will love it (if they can get it out of your hands). Do not use this in windy conditions as the wind will just take it away or send it crashing down. Use it in a field to help avoid a catastrophic crash. Send it up spinning and practice with that first so that you are comfortable with the controls. I think this one will actually work well with enough practice and adjusting the trim. I was not impressed with the "carrying case," which turns out to be the box it came in with a cardoard handle. Most of these are completely useless. This one actually does what it says, and with some patience, you should be able to have some fun (but you will also spend some time going after it to pick it up).

We've had all the "styrofoam" RC flying helicopters, dragonflies, and more the last few years. Every year we vow never to buy them again because they're so fragile they break within the first or second use. Well, every year we end up trying again, in hopes the newest model will be an improvement over the previous year. We also figured that paying $[...] for the new Switchblade would ensure durability. Wrong again! Today was the first use and within 10 minutes the styrofoam wing tip broke off. The Switchblade needs to climb high into the air to have enough clearance to morph between flying and hovering. Well, it doesn't fly high enough, so when you change modes the thing crashes before it can recover. We read the instructions and we followed everything to a "t" because we know the history with these products. I told my son to "pack it up because it's going back" and when he was putting it in the box it rolled out of his hands onto the carpet and another foam piece broke off! Sorry to say the $[...] price is not even close to worth it. Hope this review helps prevent others from going through our frustration.

My 9 yr old son really wanted this- so despite some less than positive reviews, I purchased the Switchblade. Some of the other comments are valid (battery life could be better- but we flew two different days with temps in the low forties). The vertical flight works fine- we even were able to fly indoors in a two story foyer in the hover mode. The transition to horizontal flight ("morph") was tricky- the Switchblade had to be 25 ft or so up to have enough height to pull out. One thing that made a HUGE difference in the flight performance- be sure to use the trim knob to balance the two propellors before free flight. Hand launching the aircraft was the best way to get the most flight time. Wind really does play havoc with the Switchblade since it is a flying wing- which makes it less stable than conventional aircraft. Compared to other Airhogs we've owned, this one is virtually indestructable. Though it comes with replacement propellor blades, they weren't needed, despite many, many crashes- some pretty hard. This is decent R/C, with a cool trick of transitioning mid-flight from hover to horizontal mode.

I purchased two of these, one for my 11 year old son and one for myself (make sure to buy two that work on different frequencies). We have flown these a few times. As others have mentioned, you need quite a bit of room to fly these. Also, they work best if there is little wind. Others have discussed that these do not fly well, it is very important to adjust the trim accurately, if not, the plane will crash to the ground quickly. However, once adjusted these fly very well. My son and I have flown these for relatively long periods. I would say expect 10-15 minutes of actual flight time from a single charge (Important to fully charge the battery before the first flight). As for durability, they planes have run into trees and a chain link fence with nary a scratch. Other airhog planes we have had broke very quickly, but this model seems much more durable.

The hover mode is OK, but we find hand launching is best if you just want to fly the plane.

Let me tell all you guys the trick to purchasing Air Hogs toys, especially the outside flying stuff like this - buy 3 to 5 because each purchase is a gamble. It's just how it is with Air Hogs. I've been through 4 of their Storm Launchers (full size) and 3 of them didn't fly at all but 1 did. I had to keep exchanging until I got one that would fly. My Switchblade I got yesterday does pretty well - but only turns left. You cannot trim it and as a result it will not take off in hover mode. Also one hard smack into the ground cracked the styrofoam, so for those who had good luck with it being durable it's just that, good luck. Any styrofoam plane/whatever is going to be pretty fragile so I don't blame Air Hogs for that. I guess my new one will be here Friday or Monday and if it doesn't fly I figure between the two I can make one that will fly and piece the rest together to return as broken so no one else ends up with it.

So overall Air Hogs does make crap - just buy it locally so you can keep exchanging. When you get one that works well they are very fun to play with. Sometimes you get lucky. My Mini Storm Launcher has flown great right out the box and so does the little indoors helicopter I have but sadly after both sat up a few years the batteries won't hold enough of a charge for any real flight.

Put simply: It sucks. It hovers half-way decently, but won't fly at all. Battery life is terrible. Charge it for 30 minutes to fly for MAYBE 3. Would be a good $5 toy, if you could find one for that price. I bought mine for about 35 a while back and turned around and sold it for $15 just to get rid of it.

Great fun when it works. You need to use this in a large field with plenty of room. Also avoid windy days.

Cool flying toy idea... that's all it is. The switchblade is completely uncontrollable and dives straight into the ground 9 times out of 10. The 1 out of 10 successful flights in manages reveals the absolute lack of control you have. Don't waste your batteries or your money.

Honestly, the Airhogs Switchblade was a complete waste of money. You win some and lose some and I have to admit I lost on this one. My Switchblade wont even fly in hover mode because it doesn't have enough power to keep itself up. I can toss it up as hard as I can and it will sometimes climb for a brief moment but it ALWAYS comes right back down despite how I have the stick fully depressed. Sometimes it drops like a brick and then others it will ease itself down very slowly but it absolutely doesn't fly. In "jet" mode all it does is divebomb, every time, end of story. I have no control of the planes pitch so I've never even had a chance to see if I can change directions. After attempting to fly the Switchblade 10 or 20 times my right engine froze up on me so now I have a single engine Switchblade that is pretty much worthless. I've seen videos where people can fly theirs but mine was either a complete lemon or Airhogs just pushes out bad products. Either way I wouldn't tell a friend or even an enemy to buy this thing because it's just that bad.

This is not a toy you can learn on the first day.
This is a flying toy. And with all good flying toys they take time to experiment, learn the quirks, the ways the controls take to work.
I have never taken any good flying toy IE: Helicopters, Planes, Jets. And these that don't fall in any category.
They all take a few days to play and experiment.
There have only been a few cheapies that go up and down, right and left that you could get using in an hour or so.
And they broke on the first crash, or took hours to charge for a 5 to 10 minute flight. Plus they would be in the trash in a week or so from parts falling off, breaking or stop working.
None the less, me and some friends took 2 of these of different frequencies out to the air park to try these out.
The first couple of runs were disasters. When you put in "hover" mode. Its really simple. But you can only go up and down and side to side
But when you morph it into flight mode, it takes a little challenge to fly it. Why? Because its not a normal plane. It has nothing to control it except the power on each motor and wing control.
All I can say is it takes time to master it.
As for those who say it's flimsy. Ours has taken hundreds of crashes. And we have only replaced one prop when it came straight down on concrete.
It comes with 4 free replacements.
Oh, one more thing. This thing is not for indoors, it needs plenty of room to maneuver.