Customer Reviews

Air Hogs RC Dominator

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

There is very little flight time and it requires frequent recharges. It is styrofoam! When this breaks (and it will) save the packing material because you might be able to fly it too. We were greatly disappointed in this. It took forever to get into the air and once it did, it crash landed and broke a wing. We're taking this piece of junk back tomorrow. Be warned or be disappointed!

Ok, I'm 32 years old, I have read all the reviews and all the people who say this plane does not fly must have a defective one or they just don't have any common sense. When you take it out of the box, without any power, it fly's like a paper airplane...only a lot better. Rule number one; this thing weighs only a couple of ounces, so don't be taking it out if you see the leaves on the trees moving! Rule number two; Don't play with this toy in the street...the thing is styrofoam! Go out on the street...take a running dive and you will look like the plane did when you crash landed it. Rule number three; no matter how good of a flyer you think you are this will take time to master and should be played on soft ground or 3 inch or longer grass. Tonight I took this plane for 10 rounds of flights...no wind..nice field...the plane flies great for a cheap toy. Each flight I got better at it. I got this plane over 200 feet in the air...all controlled, not only that, when the plane started to loose power I aimed the plane for a course for me...cut the engines and caught it. Every landing I had tonight resulted in a belly landing; just get the plane level 5 feet off the ground and cut the engines.

The plane flys great and handles fine . Here is a tip take some clear packing tape and cover the edges of the wings this will increase the durability of the plane and reduces drag . I did this and the plane flew better than before and also made the wings stronger . Also double charge gives it more flight time . PS had a Hawk that gave a close fly by.

It was very difficult to control and a large piece of the wing broke off when we tried it out. It was supposed to be a Christmas present for our son but it didn't even survive the test run.

The new Air Hogs Dominator is an interesting RC plane, way off in a corner of the design space. I am a fan of low-aspect ratio designs, and this plane certainly demonstrates the advantages and disadvantages of low-aspect ratio airplanes.

The airframe seems incredibly rugged. While the tails are potentially breakable, the wing is fat and seems quite strong. The low-aspect ratio design leads toa plane with reasonable wing area, but still a very small wingspan -- so that it can fit in a normal-sized box fully assembled. The thickness of the wing allows it to be very strong while just made out of the cheapest, lightest foam.

On the other hand, the plane doesn't glide very well, with a glide ratio of maybe 5. This means that when you shut the engines down, it sinks like a rock. This is maybe not such a bad thing, though -- it's not going to sail away from youlike some RC gliders. The extremely small size (and basically equilateral-triangle shape) makes it somewhat difficult to determine which way the plane is flying. When it's a couple of hundred feet away it becomes quite difficult to see.

The differential throttle control is weak. Now, many RC crashes are due to over-control -- that can't happen with this plane. The plane treats control inputsas suggestions more than commands. This lack of strong control means that you really want to fly this plane in an extremely large field -- and launch it from the center. Don't for a minute think that you can toss this plane off a cliff (say) and get it back to the takeoff spot -- at least not until you have a lot ofexperience with this plane. I've flown a lot of RC, and this is by far the hardest plane I've flown to get to a particular spot.

The plane really wants to spiral. Again, as you don't want to have it get too far away from you, maybe that's not a bad thing. The control is iffy enough, too, that it's very easy for the plane to get downwind of you in any kind of breeze. I wouldn't fly it in more than a five mph wind.

The low L/D of this design means that you run through the batteries pretty quickly, I would say that my longest flight so far has been about 3 minutes.

Still, it's fun. It's so easy to toss in the car, toss into the air, and fly. The props seem reasonably well protected -- although I've only flown the plane in long grass (and would recommend that that be the only place to fly it.) It's cheap, simple, seems rugged, and has a cuteness factor that can't be ignored. As I've said, I'm prejudiced toward low-aspect ratio designs, it's fun to play with one.

I'll write a long-term review in a few weeks.

Thad Beier

I have had this plane ofr a few months but only got to really 100% fly it once. A word of advice though: NEVER FLY ON DIRT! When you fly it on dirt, it ends up getting gashes from the rocks that it lands on. Also, it takes a lot of practice to be able to fly well. Another con is that the controls are mixed up because the Air Hogs people thought that the little kids who will be flying this plane (not one 4 year old will be able to fly this) would like the controls to be ^=up, \/-down, making it really hard for flyers with other airplanes to adapt. Remember, flying an airplane like this is a lot harder than driving a remote-controlled car because in flying the plane you have every single dimension in which to consider. In driving a car, there is no up and down directions to consider. Though, once you get these down it is a lot of fun to fly.

Takeoff: After charging for about 8 minutes, hold the airplane in your hand and turn on the engine (you do this by turning on the control). Once the engine is on, throw it at a 45 degree angle into the wind(make sure wind speed is not higher than 5mph or the plane will not fly).

Climb: Push the joy stick up until you have the desired height.

Turning: Push the joy stick in the direction you want to go(left or right) until you have the desired angle. Remember: If the plane is flying toward you, the controls are inverted.

Descent: Pull the joy stick toward you and the plane will start to descend.

Landing: When the plane is about 3-4 fett off the ground and you know where you want the plane to land, kill the engine (you do this by turning off the control). The plane should (if there is no wind) slowly descend and will then land on the grass.

I love this plane and suggest it to early remote controlled flers.

A guy I work with is really in to R/C planes and his enthusiasm has finally spilled over to me. I recently bought this Dominator just because I wanted "wing" with dual motors...so I went to Wally World and plunked down about $30.00 for this thing. At first, the plane did a sharp right turn and cartwheeled on the blacktop of our parking lot! Surprisingly , there were only a few scuffs...my buddy bent the rudders a little and we tried it again and it flew pretty straight and he got it up at least 200' in the air and it was pretty awesome! I then flew it a few times with no crashes, but it IS kind of hard to control....you do need a lot of space to have fun with this thing. Something to remember: ABSOLUTELY double charge the batteries EVERY TIME! My flight times are around 5-7 minutes each time. I've learned to get it WAY up in the air as soon as possible and then only a few touches left or right .... it glides pretty nice for a cheap little plane. It does look cool in the air and I like the sound of the motors when turning... I'd recommend it , but only fly it with someone experienced with them at first.....Overall, I'd buy it again!...Oh, use clear packing tape along the leading edges of the wings! Trust me, it makes a difference....

The Dominator is plenty of fun once you get the hang of it. But it does have its dificulties. One is that whatever direction you throw it, it turns left at a 90 degree angle before flying straight. So what I tried to do was throw it to the right of the direction I wanted it to go. Another thing to get used to is the turning. When you push the stick right or left,it turns, but when it does it "slides" over towards the ground - so make sure you have plenty of altitude before you turn.
Other than making sure you have a good charge, not much wind, and a large field to fly in, It is pretty easy and fun!

P.S. I also taped the wings with wide clear packaging tape.

After my nephew saw the Dominator commercial he was dying for a Dominator. So I bought it. Well out of all the RC planes I've tried, this has been the easiest to learn. You can't miss it in the sky since the plane body is huge and the control is reasonable for the price. Compared to the other stealth looking planes in the stores, this by far was the best in price. Overall, my nephew adored the plane, it provided a decent time period of flight. I recommend purchasing this plane for any child who likes RC products and outdoor fun. Great plane!

hard to fly. takes alot of practice and breaks very easily. the box should tell you your paying 35 bucks for styrofoam.