Customer Reviews

Spinmaster Air Hogs Battling Havoc R/C Helicopters

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

I was hesitant to buy this based on previous bad luck with Air Hogs products. However, I risked it and bought it for my son's eleventh birthday. My two boys LOVE these things, and I have been surprised that they have actually lasted a few days, proving to be more durable than their lightweight and skimpy appearance would suggest.

Understand that you only get about 5 minutes of flying time before a 15-20 minute recharge is needed. Also, while they are more controllable than the players in the old vibrating football game, don't count on being able to perform precision maneuvers or even to be able to always get it to go in the general direction that you like. That being said, everything else about these copters is fun. The helicopters spin out of control for a second or two after getting shot, but a good pilot flying high should be able to recover. The IR range seems to be decent as my boys have been able to shoot each other down from across the room.

I purchased this set with the dreams of flying around the room battling with friends. I was some what disappointed on this level. Is it a fun toy? absolutely. Would I have loved to had one when I was a kid? Absolutely. The commercials do not portray them the way they really are though. Your going to need a big room in order to achieve hovering. Then if you are able to get a shot off at the other helicopter in the five minutes your lucky. The right joy stick only has left and right movement so you are really limited on the amount of control you have to fly around the room. If your a kid, then this will be an awesome toy. Who hasn't dreamed of flying a tiny remote control toy in the house. If your an older kid at heart, then this toy isn't for you. You'll do as I did, play with it, get frustrated at how hard they are to maneuver and return them so you can have your 70 bucks back.

I'm a HUGE fan of the Air Hogs line - most of their planes and helicopters are really fun. These little units are similar in size and shape to the other Air Hogs helicopter - the Havoc, but it's not the same. The body shape is slightly different, and it uses a more dense type of foam, and the rear rotor seems to have been improved a bit.

The fighting is pretty good, but sometimes it's difficult to actually aim the buggers - that could be my own lack of skill talking, but it's something to consider. It's also quite okay from the remote's perspective to just hold down the trigger and fire IR everywhere, and since it bounces off walls somewhat, in a small room this could make the game less enjoyable/challenging.

Keep in mind that you really don't need two people to play unlike other games - if two people are around, great, if not, the havocs are a ton of fun to fly by themselves.

Like the original havoc, these guys need a little weight (the included panels or some tape with a small weight do the trick) to fly forward, otherwise they hover and float on air currents.

I got these today and they are so much fun! I had one of the origin havoc heli and have been waiting until these were released. They fly as good if not better then the original havoc's.

The controllers have buttons that allow you to shoot at the other heli and make a machine guns sound. When a heli gets "hit" then it beings to spin out on control and falls from the air.

This is really a great set for anyone that likes these types of toys.

The helicopters are awesome if they work - I just don't like "ifs" when I buy toys for my son. One helicopter worked right out of the box. The second one would not fly correctly no matter how much tinkering I did with the tail rotors and blades. Now the original is not working after a fair bit of use by my son and I guess I need to order new blades. But, for the time it flew, it was a lot of fun for my son (and me too). I cannot recommend them due to the lack of reliability.

I bought these for my husband's birthday. Needless to say, everyone in the house quickly got into the action. Our sons, ages 7 and 9 have become quite proficient at flying the helicopters. Thus far the helicopters haven't broken, even after being crashed into other objects many, many times. I bought the extra parts to be prepared, but haven't used them yet. You can fly them around a room and shoot each other, but don't expect to be able to have precise control - flying through a doorway can be challenging. A lot of fun and I've recommended these to friends.

First, a recommendation. Buy a few of the non dogfight variety also. Very useful for training and testing modifications. Oh yeah - mods. There are mods. Sadly, I can't paste URLs in an amazon review. hint: piccoztoolbox

Also, you can fight with the regular helis by getting over top your opponent and using your rotor down wash.

As for these little dog fighters ... Very cool. Reflected IR beams can be a problem, but in reality they can add an aspect of strategy to the fight. If the other guy gets next to a wall or into a corner, they deserve to catch a reflection. The center of the room, if the room is large enough, is the best place for avoiding reflections.

By the way, additional forward speed seems to help most folks control the heli, but doesn't help in a dogfight.

These helicopters are rated easy to fly, and that's somewhat accurate. It's not hard to get them airborne, but it takes some practice before you can keep them from running into walls, and you can never truly make them go where you want. However, I used them in a cramped office setting - which makes it extra challenging to fly - and still had a lot of fun. Regardless of how tricky they are to fly, you will find yourself improving with a little practice and the novelty of a mini-chopper doesn't wear of fast. It remains the coolest office toy and gets way more use than the remote controlled cars, paper airplanes. etc. These choppers are proving very rugged, as we've crashed them repeatedly into walls and the ceiling. Battery life seems a little better than advertised. Lastly, the infrared laser works great and shooting down your opponent never gets old. :)

I got a shred of educational value when one chopper started spinning in circles. A long hair was wrapped onto the back propeller, and I remembered from a video game that a chopper will only spin in circles if the back propeller is blown....it's true! :D Take a second to fix the back propeller and you're all set.

I was lucky enough to try out a friends set before deciding to purchase the set for my boys. I found them difficult to handle and was disappointed in the short time that they held the charge. My friends son was enamoured with them at first and does not use them as much anymore. (He had gotten them for his birthday only a short while ago)He has had to already replace the back end. Although I am sure that my boys would enjoy them, I am eaqually sure that they would be highly frustrated with the lack of manuverability and the short stint of play time with these as is the 11 year old that I played with. I will opt to spend our Christmas dollars on something else that will hopefully not be a quick fad toy that they loose interest in quickly.

This is a great toy, if only it lasted more than 5 minutes! Every conceivable part of this toy has broken and been replaced, just to break again. If only the damn thing was durable it'd get 5 stars from me!