Customer Reviews

WowWee Bladestar Flame Indoor Flyer

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

This is a flying machine unlike anything you've ever seen before. It's not an airplane, it's not a helicopter, it's not an autogyro, it's not an ornithopter with flapping wings. It's a powered maple seed. I'd have never thought of it, and you probably wouldn't have either, but the Wowwee designers did, and they deserve lots of credit for this masterpiece of out-of-the-box thinking.

I read about it in the magazine of an engineering society that I belong to, and the reviewer couldn't figure out what kind of "control equation" allowed an object with no non-rotating reference elements -- everything on the Bladestar spins -- to operate under directed flight. He must have come from the same aeronautical tradition as the ones that proved that a bumblebee can't fly. (We now know that insects use nonlinear "unsteady flows" to gain more lift than traditional aerodynamic equations provide for.)

While the Bladestar employs "AI" according to its advertising, it's not as smart as a bumblebee. But it can successfully avoid light-colored objects under good conditions. In the jargon of AI research this is called situationist autonomous control. If the room you're flying it in has dark walls like my living room, you'll have to guide it away from them yourself. The blades do collect dings if you fly it into hard objects, but the wingtips are covered with heavy foil that you can smooth out and it's nearly as good as new.

It naturally hovers very stably, so you might expect it to respond to the controls like a UFO in a video game, but no, this is a real flying object with gyroscopic effects when it tilts to move sideways. It takes a little bit of practice to learn to anticipate these movements and coordinate the controls appropriately. I was practicing landing on target after about 5 flights.

Bladestar is a decent flying toy but might not be what you expect.

It is a unique flyer with a novel form of operation. I had expected rotating blades around a stationary center but was incorrect. Actually via two outlying propellers the entire toy spins to achieve flight; this in an interesting twist on regular flight. I quite enjoy that it spins like a top on the ground just before lift off. Also, due to its spinning nature, if you get in trouble just kill the throttle and it will spin fairly gently to the ground.

If you expect that you will be swooping about the house with it like it is a helicopter you might be disappointed. It does not swoop. Maneuvering is achieved via specifically timed engine pulses (it does not tilt) which, while interesting, does not make for fast or exciting flight. It takes some practice but you can get it to move where you want, just not really fast. It does however hover better than any small battery operated helicopter I've flown, being able to hover in place quite well. Up and down flight handles quite well too.

The control takes getting used to, especially if you're used to radio control. This is IR control (for weight savings I'm sure) so is line of sight. Meaning you must keep the controller pointed at the toy. If you forget and don't point at the toy then it will not accept any commands. At first I'd find myself forgetting from time to time but now that I'm used to the control scheme (hey you have to figure one out for every video game, why not a toy?) it's fairly intuitive. It does have safety features built in to shut off if it does not receive a signal for a certain amount of time.

It has an autopilot and regular RC mode. I like the RC mode but in autopilot it will automatically avoid walls and ceilings and such (the lighter color the better). Ceiling fans (off of course) it does not do so well with. I just don't like the loss of control but a kid may get a kick out of trying to move it by placing their hands in front of it.

Battery life is as advertised. Controller takes 6 AA's but this is because the toy charges from the controller (much like the smaller Airhogs helicopters). It takes about 10 - 15 minutes to charge and will fly about 5 - 7 minutes - this isn't bad for this size toy.

A big positive is that it comes with a carrying/storage case. So instead of just chunk it in the closet when not in use I can pack it in a nice sturdy case which is nice. It also comes with an extra set of blades and an extra set of propellers as well as the dogfight controller attachment but as I don't have two of these to fight with I can't opine in its usefulness.

In closing I will say that had a paid full price not knowing exactly what I was getting I might have felt a bit ripped off to be honest. But I lucked out and found one on clearance. I hope if you plan on buying one that these details help you be better prepared for what you are purchasing.

I bought this at a local Target store thinking it would be fun to fly around. Snapped on the wings, put in the batteries, and charged it up. Away we go.

It's very hard to fly, and the IR controller must be pointed at it at all times. The speed adjustments must be made very slowly, or they do not register. The whole thing spins, so it's fairly dangerous to kids faces, pets, and walls - the latter of which it will inevitably crash into.

I am sure I could have learned to fly it, but on my 3rd (crash) landing a critical pin in the mechanism that attaches the large blades to the body came out and disappeared, so it was grounded. It went back to Target for a refund before its first 5-minute-flying-time charge was used up.

The Flytech Bladestar is an amazing little flying machine; unlike indoor R/C helicopters, it has a semi-autonomous mode which allows it to avoid crashing into light-colored ceilings, walls, couches, lampshades, etc. so you can have a boatload of fun with it even in somewhat cramped rooms that you wouldn't normally fly a helicopter in.

Although it looked a little complicated, the Bladestar was also *VERY EASY* to assemble; requiring only the two main rotor blades be snapped into receptacles for them.

It also comes with a hinge-lidded storage case that holds the Bladestar itself, its remote, at least two sets of main blades (yes, it does come with a spare set), and the "dogfighting accessory". This case has various pins & protrusions inside designed to hold all of the components securely, even if the case is jostled or otherwise manhandled.

I have an informal review of the Bladestar on my large website (this is a direct-entry URL to the actual Bladestar's review) at http://ledmuseum.candlepower.us/sixteen/bladstar.htm if you're interested.
This review includes photographs and a video clip.

Remember, I'm not a professional product reviewer; I do this only as a hobby.

I was very disappointed in reading the reviews for this cool little helicopter toy. I'm not sure what the others were trying to do when flying it; but left alone, it hovers by itself and is really easy to maneuver using the controls. The main body and wings are made of Styrofoam and a plastic. While that might seem cheap, it is really the most durable, lightweight substance the manufacturer could have used and still maintained the light weight. Which is understandable when you are trying to increase battery life and ease of flight. I do have a slightly bent wing from a run in with a ceiling fan, but it still flies fine. As long as you regard it as a tiny flying machine and don't bash it into things repeatedly, it does fine. This is the easiest to fly, fully maneuverable tiny helicopter toy that I've found to date.

I am both amazed and saddened at some of the negative reviews about this little wonder. "It is hard to control" "it's cheap" blah blah blah.

I saw this little buzzer at my local radio shack, and as a pilot and dabler in aeronautics, was quite amazed at what I was seeing. So I got one for myself.

After very easy assembly and just as easy initial charge, it was ready to go. Looking at it you are not looking at just any flying machine, there is no way a camera can be put on it presently due to the fact there is no non-spinning part on it when flying.

After a bit of a learning curve I soon discovered that like all gyros this flier reacts to control inputs much differently than one would think. The way the controls work is quite ingenious, if inefficient. Directional control is done by pulsing on motor on and off for a split second at a specific point of rotation. The problem with this is, just like with a twin engined aircraft, the loss of power on one engine results in a 75 to 80 percent of overall power for flight. For this flier that results in substantial altitude loss for a fraction of a second until the other motor compensates for this by increasing power. You will notice this by a slight to drastic dip in height when trying to maneuver. Now for those complaining about this, do you not understand the complexity of this operation? This is amazing stuff. This is not an airplane, or helicopter, it is a design all it's own. The reason for its "cheap" construction is because it is a tiny flying machine, and like all flying machines is limited in its weight, which unfortunately leads to very "cheap" looking parts which are really not all that "cheap".

Oh, I have gotten smacked by one of the wings, in the face. For the person that was saying this was a dangerous toy, I can safely say you are completely wrong. One's face does more damage to the flier than it does to you.

Instead of complaining and whining why don't people just understand that this is quite a feat of engineering, and like many feats of engineering are not easily learned. I have been able to take off, fly around and bring it in for a soft landing within one day, with the damage to only one set of wings.

The AI or autopilot leaves a little to be desired, as does the IR control signals. But I would think a radio type control may add a bit too much weight. Because of the type of control signal the control must always face the spinning flier. The avoidance system (AI) is just a bit too sluggish. Also if you get too close to the ceiling the rotor down force will literally suck the unit against the ceiling which requires cutting power entirely to bring it back down, which usually results in a rapid descent that takes a bit to recover from before ground impact.

This thing is fun, pure and simple, once you learn all its quirks.

I recommend it for those that don't mind putting some effort into such a thing

We gave our son a Bladestar for his 9th birthday and the first one just didn't work. We charged it and did everything correctly but the thing just wouldn't start. That one was exchagned for a second which worked great--until the switch to turn the flying part on/off broke off. The toy did seem fun on the three flights we had. The auto pilot mode worked and it stayed away from walls, etc. We decided not to buy another and were able to return this one to Target.

The breakthrough is supposed to be that this thing is smart and knows how to avoid walls and go left right up down by itself, but it totally does not. And even with the remote, it hardly goes left or right. It does hover extremely stable and goes up and down really well. But it's just a lot of promise and not a lot of results.

I bought this "toy" as a gift for my husband, who is an electronic engineer. He put it together with no difficulty, and began flying it right away. Apparently it is simple to fly, the controls are intuitive, and the thing is durable (it does crash a lot in operator learning mode). The autopilot feature doesn't work as well as advertised, but that's almost to be expected, and we are still learning about that aspect of it as well. He will probably take it outside next (which may be the end of it) to experiment with it further, but the main point is he is having fun with it! In conclusion, $50.00 well spent.

This is the toy I really looking forward to, since its announced from Las Vegas. The whole thing is well packed in a very nice, well designed and convenient box. The Flyer is well protected in its box, ready for the move to the next dog fight. But unfortunately my remote unit fails to charge the Flyer, so after using all the pre-charged battery, I could get a glimpse of what it could be, if everything works the way it should. What a pity, because I like the product, but Wowwee fails on delivering faultlessly product to its customer. I decided to return it for a refund, rather then an exchange. I'm not convinced, that Wowwee takes the quality assurance seriously.