ProdMod ™

This particular RC helicopter is made by Interactive Toy Concepts and is available exclusively at Radio Shack. It costs about $70. Hmm sounds like a lot doesn’t it? Especially after I only spent about $30 on the Havoc Heli. I picked this up because it promised real “forward” flight thanks to the little propeller in the back. Its a dual main rotor design which means each rotor turns the opposite direction to concel out each other’s rotation. This allows you to hover steadily without the helicopter spinning around or moving too much. It is also RC and 3-channel, so I thought that was a plus. It also has three small motors. So if it really sucks maybe i can use the parts.?

The first thing I notice is that the controller requires a 9V battery, Yuk. And it comes with a charging station that requires 6 C cell batteries. What? 6 cells? Why on earth is this a good idea? There is no way i am going to buy 6 C cell batteries for this thing. I guess the idea is the charger is portable, but you cant take these things outside anyway so I think its dumb. It does NOT come with an AC charger. At least not the one from radio shack. There is a similar one that sells with a simple AC charger and no charging base here.

Luckily the dumb charging base has a jack to accept a 7.5V 450mA adapter. I will find one and charge it later.

So when I opened up my box I flew the helicopter using whatever juice was left in it from the factory. It has a convenient trim knob on the remote to help stop the spinning. I push forward on the right stick to move forward and it starts to spin while it moves forward. It also starts to drop like its losing power. I guess it might not be fully charged. In any case the forward motion is not fluid. It kind of oscillates just like the Havoc Heli does when you put weight on the nose. The more you try to move forward the more unstable it gets and you can see the rotors tilting wildly. This was a disappointment because Read more »