Newbie - Help me choose...Please

Hello eveyone!

I have decided to buy my boyfriend a rc helicopter for his birthday as he has mentioned wanting one for a while!

I can spend UP to ?300, so with that amount of money I want to get it right!

So, I have no idea what to get! I have been looking about on the web and there are huge amounts of information!

Perhaps you can help get me started?

Rich (the bloke) has no other rc models and so I guess fully assembled or nearly assembled would be best? Having no flying experience I would like something that isnt going to take ages to learn to fly (he is impatient!), but I dont want some crap gadget!

There seem to be some good deals for getting them from the USA, espcially with the good exchange rate!

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Red

(P.S. I wont be back online untill Tuesday, so probably a silly time to post...ah well!)

[colin]

Hi Red, welcome to the board.

Well, firstly, there are crap helis that won't fly, and there are really expensive ones that will fly but only after some practicing and crashing.

If your bf has no flying experience, your birthday gift might end up buying a lot of spares. Anyway, the few suggestions I can give you are.

1. Buy a heli like the ZAP 400 (zoom 400 / shogun 400), which I just got my hands on one. It flies really well, but being an electric heli, needs a bit of experience in getting it into the air.

2. Nitro or Gas helis such as the Raptor 30, Shuttle 30, or Nexus are good beginner helis, but they are not in the $300uk range. Most gas helis are around US$800 for a complete set.

Okay, the best suggestion I can give you at this point is to buy him a present that will last forever, ... won't crash and still give him the joy of flying...

... get him this... G2 REALFLIGHT SIMULATOR. http://www.realflight.com/

It's a PC simulator with a radio control unit that looks like the real thing, and he can fly both planes and Helis.. crash all he wants, and learn the basics of flying. After that, he can decide if he want to fly plane or heli more, and get the real stuff WITH the experience on his belt.

With your budget, you can get the PRO version which is what I would recommend.

Cheers and happy hunting!