AR.Drone anybody have one?

[THEYTOOKMYTHUMB]

Looks like fun. I seriously may get one. $300, but 2 built in cameras. Good reviews.

[youtube]SihqY2r3_M4&feature=relmfu[/youtube]

[kaiser]

i'm tempted since i just got an iphone and my lhs stocks them.
not sure i'd use it much after the intial excitment.

[THEYTOOKMYTHUMB]

not sure i'd use it much after the intial excitment.

That's pretty much what I ended up thinking after mulling it over for a while last night. I tend to buy things in the heat of the moment and then they end up collecting dust. Not to mention you can get a small rtr chopper for a lot less money. May not be quite as cool, but it's a good way to see if there's any long term interest.

BTW the Temple Run app is a lot of fun. Free too if I remember correctly.

[Bimdapogs]

It was free, thanks for that! I like it!

[Lowgear]

Over the last several years I've gotten two of those mini helicopters as gifts. Neither one lasted more than a week due to crashes. They were the pretty cheap 2-channel ones so theres basically no parts availability. They were for indoors only, and being cheap and small the factory build tolerances were sloppy at best. It made them really hard to control when flying around in a living room.

I've contemplated picking up a little better model but I'd probably never use it. Hell, I can't even seem to run my ground based vehicles.

[civilguy]

The new Scout from e-Flite is a huge step up from the Syma & Brookstone junk and it's only $50. It is 3 channel. The MCX is great fun too (just a little more $$) but it steps up to 4 channel. Both have plenty of parts support.
We have a MCX and MSR... the both really fly well and are very robust!

Oh, and on topic, I think I would get bored with this thing and it's overpriced.

[Diamond Dave]

Hey Lowgear! Last Boxing day sale, I bought the MCX2. It was on sale for around $90. They threw in a spare batt.

I ordered a few more batteries online, Not a bad flyer at all. This might be more to your liking.

http://www.pmhobbycraft.ca/BLADE-MCX2-RTF-EFLH2400/

Agile and fun to fly indoors. Many upgrades for it as well.

I feel the same way about buying the Drone, great to have for the first bit, but the use I would get out of it would diminish after the first few weeks.

[kaiser]

i have a blade cx3, 4 channel one size up from the mcx's. it's a fun little heli but i don't fly it much. i fly my little hobbyzone champ the most, it's a 3ch foam plane.

[civilguy]

We fly indoors in the winter (high school gym). Right now the squadron consists of Parkzone Vapors, Trojan T-28, Mosquito (twin engine-- nuts!), and just got a PoleCat (plyon racer). I had a Cub but sold it to a kid at the gym... unfortunately for me, the LHS owner comes every week with a SUV full of new toys. There's a few Champs there too. I had a midair with one this past Sunday actually.

All of the micros are tons of fun, and I definitely fly my planes more than the helis.

This just in... Drone is still overpriced.

[THEYTOOKMYTHUMB]

A lot of good info here. So what's a good starter park flyer? There's tons of open area around me and I would love to have something to fly around that's not too complicated or easy to tear up.

[GJW]

ive been close to buying one, but never pulled the trigger, id pay 200 tops

[Lowgear]

I'm glad I posted about my misadventures with the ones I've gotten so far as these are some good suggestions! Now I know of another Christmas gift to add to my list.

[civilguy]

A lot of good info here. So what's a good starter park flyer? There's tons of open area around me and I would love to have something to fly around that's not too complicated or easy to tear up.

If you have some decent space (but not a true RC field), a lot of people said these are decent: http://secure.hobbyzone.com/rcplanes/beginner/HBZ7300.html
The Parkzone ones are good too. If you have some flight experience, I would suggest this one: http://www.parkzone.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=PKZ1980

We also have a GWS Slow Stick that the kids learned on. It took them a battery each to take off and land. Soooo now it sits in the corner. You need some calm days to fly that thing though. It does do loops on a dime with a 2s lipo.
http://masportaviator.com/2008/06/26/gws-slow-stick/

I have never gone the park flyer route, as I have bigger nitro planes we fly at our local club's field and then the micros we fly indoors (and occasionally outside ). We do have one HobbyKing P-38 (55" foamie) that we need to try one of these days but haven't had the time. Our weather has been really warm for us so I may get a chance before Christmas.

Good luck!

[THEYTOOKMYTHUMB]

Thanks for the suggestions. Now to fill out my letter to Santa. If he claims I'm on the naughty list I'll sue his ass for discrimination.

Actually I'm feeling quite festive this evening. Took the kid and my nieces up to French Lick for the Polar Express train ride. Just rolled back into town actually. Fun day if anyone is ever in French Lick during the holidays.

[civilguy]

Actually I'm feeling quite festive this evening. Took the kid and my nieces up to French Lick for the Polar Express train ride. Just rolled back into town actually. Fun day if anyone is ever in French Lick during the holidays.

I asked for a French Lick for Christmas.
We did the Polar Express thing in Conway, NH back when my kids were younger. They both know now (I won't type it all just in case believers are looking ). It's a lot easier to shop now.