Today I am talking rc helicopters. That’s right, radio control helicopters. OK, here’s the deal. I had the opportunity to test a mini radio control helicopter and that’s the whole point of my post today. I have to say, when I first signed up for the chance to review one of these, I was thinking about the Air Hogs helicopters I see in Target all the time. When they actually sent me a sample of one of these mini radio controlled helicopters, I was pretty surprised. It is petite and cute. But I have to say, this is no toy for the kids. It is a real treat for the RC hobbyist. Frankly, for me, a radio-controlled gadget novice, this is pretty difficult to operate in the beginning. It is definitely not a good toy for the little ones. They can mess with the clunky stuff in Target – this jammer is hard core.

The helicopter is palm size and has two top rotors with a third bar that spins between the props as a sort of stabilizer. As a result, you can actually fly this guy around. It turns out that most of the inexpensive toy store choppers pretty much just go up and down. Their propeller structure pretty much limits them to lift, drop and hover. With this mini job I’ve been testing, however, you can actually cruise all around the room.

And that’s an important point. This particular mini helicopter is specifically intended for indoor use. You certainly have to take care and not go to crazy…trust me. It took me a little while to perfect my gentle touch on the wireless control. More than once I ran it into a wall, or lost loft in my attempts fly like something out of Blue Thunder. Still, despite a number of crashes and bashes, I was unable to break anything. Of course, if I keep banging it around, I will probably need to take advantage of the extra rear prop they included…but I’m not there yet.

The kids love it. It buzzes and whirs and flies around the room like a crazy little robot dragonfly. Pretty sweet. They are dying to get their hands on the remote, but that ain’t gonna happen. Seriously, I would seriously love to let them take the controls, but it is really not something for a little fingers to pilot. Maybe when Jake gets a little older, but for now…well, it’s hard enough for me to maintain a steady and controlled hand. You really need to take your time to master a machine like this. I would imagine that a more experienced rc helicopter hobbyist could get going with this mini helicopter right out of the box, but with a little patience, any newbie – like me – can get rolling. Yeah, you need patience, and maybe a healthy dose of maturity too, to take to the skies with one of these mini helis.

Here’s another thing – after receiving this test  model, I priced a few toy radio controlled helicopters at Target and Walmart. They were all in the high twenties…and up. For a similar investment, probably a little less, you can get a really cool and really legit rc helicopter. This is no toy. This is a real starter unit. And I have to say, it is a hell of lot of fun to pilot around the room. I have been playing with it for days – mostly after Carol falls asleep – and I’m getting pretty good at circling her sleeping form. Another couple of nights and I’ll be landing it right on her sleeping pregger belly. Rock on!