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The ULTIMATE last-minute $30 gift (1 Viewer)

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Insoxicated
Ladies & Gentlemen.... I give to you: The Syma S107 Microcopter

Microcopters have gotten a bad name as of late due to cheap manufacturing, unstable flight, difficult to learn controls. These little ####ers fix all that. Metal frame, durable as hell, and holy #### these things are EASY to control! :hot:

We ordered some for the nieces and the GF picked up an extra for me. They arrived last night and I fired the thing up. First flight I had the controls down pat. EXTREMELY stable due to an internal gyroscope. So stable that you get a bit cocky with the little things and next thing you know you're bouncing off the cieling or wall sending it crashing to the ground. No problem... these little bastards are TOUGH. Not to mention they are fully rebuild-able (tiny screws) via a whole cottage industry of cheap, readily available parts. This thing is currently the undisputed king of low-end microcopters.

About to order another half dozen of these things for gifts. Thankfully with Amazon's Prime membership I'll be enjoying free 2-day shipping and have them in plenty of time for wrapping/gifting.

THE GOOD:

Tough as NAILS

Insanely easy to fly

Wicked fun... Both the GF and I were giggling like schoolkids playing with these

Huge aftermarket support - Customizeable

Large online forum for help

THE BAD:

- 5-6 mins of flight time after 30-45 mins of charging

- The Li-Po battery cells are fairly fragile - Duty cycling is recommended (don't run to dead... 5 min flight, 2 min cool, charge)

- PLUS: Upside is higher capacity packs are cheap ($3) and easy to solder into place.

- Can't really be flown outside, only inside, due to being extremely susceptible to winds.

More Pics / Short Video here > (they also sell spare parts)

 
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johnnyrock62000 said:
Looks awesome! Could a 6 year-old (kindergartner) fly it?
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Could he? Most definitely. Can he overcome the urge to drive it like he stole it and smash it into stuff constantly? That's your call. :) The operation itself is very simple. within 10 seconds anyone can have this thing hovering at any height dead steady and rotating as needed. Fore/aft motion takes a flight or two to get used to, but it's very simple once you get the hang of it. If you get bored with it, you can make some slight mods and you can have the thing racing around the room doing banked corners airwolf style. Parts can and do break, but it takes a good hard (or freak) hit to do it. I've bounced mine off the cieling, crashed to the ground about 10 times, etc... no damage yet. If you have a big enough space to fly it and a kid who's well behaved and willing to learn slowly, I see no reason why he wouldn't be able to fly it. My goal with teaching the nieces/nephew will be to have them start with just hovering and turning. Get to where they have good altitude control.. then move slowly back and forth across the room. Get them used to it. If you cut them loose with it right off I imagine it would get away from them and crash a bit. :)
 
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[icon] said:
johnnyrock62000 said:
Looks awesome! Could a 6 year-old (kindergartner) fly it?
Click to expand...
Could he? Most definitely. Can he overcome the urge to drive it like he stole it and smash it into stuff constantly? That's your call. :) The operation itself is very simple. within 10 seconds anyone can have this thing hovering at any height dead steady and rotating as needed. Fore/aft motion takes a flight or two to get used to, but it's very simple once you get the hang of it. If you get bored with it, you can make some slight mods and you can have the thing racing around the room doing banked corners airwolf style. Parts can and do break, but it takes a good hard (or freak) hit to do it. I've bounced mine off the cieling, crashed to the ground about 10 times, etc... no damage yet. If you have a big enough space to fly it and a kid who's well behaved and willing to learn slowly, I see no reason why he wouldn't be able to fly it. My goal with teaching the nieces/nephew will be to have them start with just hovering and turning. Get to where they have good altitude control.. then move slowly back and forth across the room. Get them used to it. If you cut them loose with it right off I imagine it would get away from them and crash a bit. :)
Click to expand...
Thanks icon.Thinking about one for me and one for my nephew plus extra rotors, balance bars and buckles (?), from what I've read. What parts do you recommend to keep on hand?
 
johnnyrock62000 said:
Thanks icon.Thinking about one for me and one for my nephew plus extra rotors, balance bars and buckles (?), from what I've read. What parts do you recommend to keep on hand?
Click to expand...
Keep in mind I've had mine for 1 day and have maybe 30 mins of flight time into it with zero breakage so I'm not really an expert. Reading up indicates that balance bars (though they can be superglued glued with success), rear rotors (comes with a spare in USB cable sleeve) are the main breakage. The tailfins can break but they serve no purpose. I've read about landing gear bending (hollow tubes) but that's only from hard landings (they seem robust). By all acounts the rotor blades are tough as nails. The BIGGEST thing to be sure of is to take care of the battery. Run 5-6 minute flight cycles. Don't fly till it can't lift itself - Li-Po batteries HATE being drained and doing it only once or twice can kill the battery. Let it cool for 2-3 mins before charging and after charging (They don't seem to get hot but I follow the advice of those who've had them longer than me). Also using a USB hub to charge speeds time instead of using the remote charging cable.
 
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GF finally succumbed and we exchanged gifts last night. the s107 was one of mine and I spent a while playing with it again last night. These things are seriously a blast. Very quick to learn how to control them accurately as well. After just 5 flights I've got the thing mastered. Going to start modding it a bit to make it much quicker / more nimble.

GOt 3 more on the way arriving today. 2 will be gifts... 1 will be my 2nd one. :shrug:

 
$48.75 on Amazon now. It's a no-brainer at $30, but $50 is causing some hesitation (particularly because I have to buy 2).

 
Senor Schmutzig said:
The ULTIMATE last-minute $30 gift, For "kids" of all ages...
Click to expand...
:nerd: The link shows $48.75
Click to expand...
bigbottom said:
$48.75 on Amazon now. It's a no-brainer at $30, but $50 is causing some hesitation (particularly because I have to buy 2).
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Wow.. folks are selling out like mad. That price went from 31 to 38 back to 31 in 24 hours (various stores going in and out of stock). Currently the best I can find is 38 but it's not shippable via prime (free 2nd day, 2.99 overnight). :sad: It's possible more stock comes in at the cheaper places today/tomorrow and the price drops back down to 31 but who knows... this is the #1 selling item on Amazon apparently right now.

I know we've bought 12 of these things between my buddy and I in the last week :banned:

 
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Aaron Rudnicki said:
http://camelcamelcamel.com/Syma-S107-Gyros...duct/8499000606

it was only $18 a few weeks ago. price is spiking.
Click to expand...
Great resource there. Hard to believe these going for 18. I've gone through an RCFORUM thread on them that seemed to indicate that the upper 20s was as low as they really got in price. That might be confusing pricing for the 105 that lacks the internal gyro stabilizer? :thumbup: odd.

either way, I'd balk at $50. $30 is a very good price. $40 is probably fair IMO.

 
I just bought this from Borders. Thought it was pretty funny. If anything you can use it in the White Buffalo exchange. I plan on putting it in my mancave.

 
Mad Cow said:
Mine arrived 10 minutes ago. My son will be very happy with that one. ;)
Click to expand...
Did you get a chance to fly it? Battery on the chopper should be good for a couple mins of flight as it stands. Just need 6 AAs for the remote. FYI you can charge directly from the remote (cable hidden in back of case)... but I imagine you'll plow through batteries if you do that often. I just plug into USB hub on my workstation using the provided cable.
 
[icon] said:
Mad Cow said:
Mine arrived 10 minutes ago. My son will be very happy with that one. :shark:
Click to expand...
Did you get a chance to fly it? Battery on the chopper should be good for a couple mins of flight as it stands. Just need 6 AAs for the remote. FYI you can charge directly from the remote (cable hidden in back of case)... but I imagine you'll plow through batteries if you do that often. I just plug into USB hub on my workstation using the provided cable.
Click to expand...
No, it really is for my son for Christmas morning.
 
My mom got my 11 year old son one of these last year. He absolutely loves it - just fair warning, fly that bad boy outside as it WILL take out chunks of plaster if it gets a good head of steam. Scares the hell out of the cat too. Decent battery life (and spares are available so you can charge one while playing w/ the other) and yes it's a durable little thing.

Highly, highly recommended. :thumbsup:

 
A friend of mine bought two of these for his two nephews last Christmas. After opening the presents, his neice came up to him and said "thanks for the book, but I'm so jealous of my brothers' gifts!"

Smart girl. She got the book AND a microcopter.

 
Mad Cow said:
[icon] said:
Mad Cow said:
Mine arrived 10 minutes ago. My son will be very happy with that one. :pickle:
Click to expand...
Did you get a chance to fly it? Battery on the chopper should be good for a couple mins of flight as it stands. Just need 6 AAs for the remote. FYI you can charge directly from the remote (cable hidden in back of case)... but I imagine you'll plow through batteries if you do that often. I just plug into USB hub on my workstation using the provided cable.
Click to expand...
No, it really is for my son for Christmas morning.
Click to expand...
TWO reasons to open it tonight:1) Gotta make sure it's not DOA. I've gotten 7 with zero DOAs but I'll be damned if I'm not testing em before they're wrapped just in case. Do you want your kid to be let down if it's jacked up? :rant:2) After a quick test, you gotta charge it 100%. They go out with about 40% charge... that's about 2 mins of flying. Do you want your kid to just start getting the hang of it then have it die and him have to shelve it for 40 mins while it charges? OF COURSE NOT. :unsure:C) You know you wanna bounce it off the dog/cat/TV a couple times to test its durability/funfactor first.
 
bakes said:
My mom got my 11 year old son one of these last year. He absolutely loves it - just fair warning, fly that bad boy outside as it WILL take out chunks of plaster if it gets a good head of steam. Scares the hell out of the cat too. Decent battery life (and spares are available so you can charge one while playing w/ the other) and yes it's a durable little thing.Highly, highly recommended. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
Has to be PERFECTLY calm day or the wind will throw these things around like leaves. Oh and yeah on highly, highly recommended. Pretty much the greatest toy ever. :pickle:
 
[icon] said:
bakes said:
My mom got my 11 year old son one of these last year. He absolutely loves it - just fair warning, fly that bad boy outside as it WILL take out chunks of plaster if it gets a good head of steam. Scares the hell out of the cat too. Decent battery life (and spares are available so you can charge one while playing w/ the other) and yes it's a durable little thing.

Highly, highly recommended. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
Has to be PERFECTLY calm day or the wind will throw these things around like leaves. Oh and yeah on highly, highly recommended. Pretty much the greatest toy ever. :headbang:
Click to expand...
Very true. Tried in in our yard which has a ton of trees and decided we're better off heading over to the park with a couple of fully charged batteries so it wouldn't self destrcut, although it did take a couple of good hits without problems.Re the antenna wire - did you leave yours wound around the runners at the base, or unravel it so it hangs down? My wife unraveled it after last time out and debating whether it should be rewound.

 
bakes said:
[icon] said:
bakes said:
My mom got my 11 year old son one of these last year. He absolutely loves it - just fair warning, fly that bad boy outside as it WILL take out chunks of plaster if it gets a good head of steam. Scares the hell out of the cat too. Decent battery life (and spares are available so you can charge one while playing w/ the other) and yes it's a durable little thing.

Highly, highly recommended. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
Has to be PERFECTLY calm day or the wind will throw these things around like leaves. Oh and yeah on highly, highly recommended. Pretty much the greatest toy ever. :headbang:
Click to expand...
Very true. Tried in in our yard which has a ton of trees and decided we're better off heading over to the park with a couple of fully charged batteries so it wouldn't self destrcut, although it did take a couple of good hits without problems.Re the antenna wire - did you leave yours wound around the runners at the base, or unravel it so it hangs down? My wife unraveled it after last time out and debating whether it should be rewound.
Click to expand...
The S107's are IR... no wire. There are literally hundreds of these mini choppers on the market.

 
sports_fan said:
You'll shoot your eye out with that thing.
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I can't say I haven't been trying. Last night in an effort to land it on top of an armoire while drunk at 4:30am I caught the chain hanging from a ceiling fan in our bedroom. It somehow slung it around 180 degrees and back at my head. Missed me by a foot and smashed into the wall then the floor :lmao:Zero damage. Took right back off again :unsure:
 
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