Havoc Helicopter (Air Hogs, $29)
Sunday, July 29, 2007
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THE HANGAR
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Flying Toys (under $100)
- Dragon Fly
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- Havoc Helicopter
- Stryker RED
- GWS Slow Stick
- Parkzone Stryker
- Hobby-Lobby Yak-55
- GWS Funny Park
- Pop Flyer Pitts
- Art-Tech Pitts S2-A
- Brio 10
- GWS Formosa
- SIG Riser
- Predator Bee
- Pink Lightning
- Airfoilz Extra 260
- E-Flite Funtana 300
- Seagull X-Ray
RC Helicopters
- Align Trex 250
- Blade CP Pro
- Blade CX2
- Align TRex 450
- E-Flite Blade 400
Flying Toys (under $100)
- Dragon Fly
- Aero Ace Biplane
- Reflex Helicopter
- Havoc Helicopter
10 comments:
OMG, these Havocs are a HUGE P.O.S.! I threw away twenty nine perfectly good bucks on one and it died within three weeks. I have a "Fry's" electronics store near me in So CA and they had the all plastic not foam MicroGear "mini micro" FireFly "Fairy" (Hughes 300) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYEzBzYFPfo for only $14.95 on sale. It's the same size and ten times better for having indoor fun than that Havoc POS..
Learned lots of fun tricks to make this two channel IR Heli be almost as much fun as a 4 channel for outdoors. Tweek (rotate) the tail boom around so the tail rotor is slightly facing down and when you increase the tail rotor speed quickly, the Fairy goes forward, slow the speed quickly and it goes backward ... neat for a two channel that's only supposed to go up/down or spin around!
Friends don't let friends buy Foam Heli crap.
Whirling Webster
REAL Havocs (from Spinmaster) have a ONE YEAR warranty, and they do stand behind it. It is not "foam heli crap" but it is somewhat fragile. What I see people doing with their Havocs is bashing them into walls until something fails, then complaining that the chopper is crap - not true. If you fly it properly it will last a very long time. Mine is still going strong after over a year - but then, I haven't bashed it into the walls too many times. Take care of your toys and they will be fine - abuse your stuff and you get what you deserve.
That said, Spinmaster sells thousands of these, and simply because of the way probability works, some people have problems with them. When you sell as many helicopters as they do, there is bound to be some people who have problems with it - which is why they have the warranty.
Sorry, but I wasted $30 on one of these "POS" REAL Havocs about a year ago and the circuit board internally fried after just two weeks. No wall bashing, no furniture crashing, nothing. I've been flying RC Glow and 4 stroke Heli's since you were in diapers.
Three contact attempts to the Havoc people went ignored, so I filed a complaint with the BBB - you KNOW this garbage comes from Red China? - so the for crap quality should be expected, but you don't know that from the totally misleading TV commercials which actually lead you to believe that you can "steer" this thing like a 4 channel and up REAL RC Heli!
One of the Hobby People store managers is a good friend and they sell these Havocs as a "little kid toy". The guys in the store tell me most people who buy them complain that they last a few weeks to a couple months at best before frying either the motors or the CB.
All I can say is that if you are going to defend this piece of crap, you aren't any kind of serious RCer. Keep playing with your "toys".
I don't understand why people expect a $30 kids toy to perform like a $700 TRex. It is not designed for that - it is quick, cheap, indoor fun. I got warranty replacement on the first one I got, and the one they sent me worked perfectly - still does. I did not have any trouble contacting them, and after ten minutes on the phone trying to fix it with a very helpful young lady, they agreed to send me a new one.
I am not defending the product as a precision aerobatic helicopter or something. It is what it is. I do not understand why people don't get that. Your expectations were too high for a product in this price range - and if it was because of the marketing message or TV commercial, I think you need to pay more attention.
I do not understand what people expect from a $30 toy - personally, I expect a $30 toy. When I wanted something better, I went to a Blade CX2, then a Blade CP Pro, and now an Align TRex 450. At each level I got the performance I would expect for that price, but nothing more, and I'm ok with that. 37 years on this earth have taught me that you get what you pay for, and if you want something more, PAY MORE.
You do have a right to get $30 worth of fun out of it though, and if you had trouble with the service, that is unfortunate - which is why I approved your comment - people should have a right to read it.
By the way, that's why anything under $100 is listed as a toy. They are not serious RC aircraft, but they are fun and cheap. I don't know of any other helicopter on the market, except the Fairy, Picco Z and other similar ones, which you can hand to a 4 year old and not worry about it.
I'll tell you why "people expect a $30 kids toy to perform like a $700 TRex.", or even a Walkera 22E for $85, it's because of the very misleading TV commercials for the Havoc showing it being flown like a 4 or 6ch Heli ... which is ISN'T and it can't with only a 2ch IR controller!!
So blame the marketing LIARS at Spinmaster (how appropriate a name, SPINmasters) for the rage most anyone that buys this garbage, only to find that it REALLY only goes up and down and spins mostly out of control.
Ps. You can easily buy a good 4ch electric Heli like a Walkera or Sabre when on sale for around $85! Trust me, I have one and it isn't an "under $100 toy" or crap like the Havoc that $55 away from something actually flyable.
Yes you are correct about that, and I've always thought "Spinmaster" was kinda funny too. I have not seen any TV commercials for the Havoc, but aren't ALL TV commercials misleading? I've been watching TV for 37 years and I don't think I've ever seen a truthful commercial. Seriously - is it even possible for every car on the road to be the "best in it's class" - obviously not, but all the commercials say so. TV IS NOT REAL - all products on TV are portrayed as being better than they are - if people don't understand this, then they have bigger problems than I can help with.
I have the milennium ptu which is a50 dollar 2.4 version of this. I think it is allot of fun for the price.It is so much better than the havoc so spend the 20 more dollars and get a higher quality product. Just as Jazzy said "if you want more pay more."
I absolutely love the plethora of online posters who are so quick to attack other people's characters rather than simply disagree with their ideas. Do these people do this in real life? I mean, I remember in kindergarten, debate generally went as follows:
kid #1: You are a STUPIDHEAD!
kid #2: Yeah, well my dad could beat your dad up!
kid #1: Oh yeah?! *tugs hair of #2 and runs away*.
Obviously, child #1 undoubtedly won that meeting-of-the-minds. :)
That being said, thank you for your posts, and for approving the commentators. It is very beneficial to see not only the debate, but also the types of supporting evidence which different people provide. Such as, "because you chose to write about a toy, you automatically have no right to share your own personal experiences on a blog which you are entitled to, which I have no obligation to read."
:) I, for one, wish that I had gone the $30 toy route first, if for no other reason, to get a respect for the fragile nature of these devices. I just may have been a bit more careful with my $70 first purchase.
Poffpaul
It is funny - no they are not like that in real life. Usually, people just walk away or agree. If you ever meet me, you'll see that I carry myself with an attitude of authority. That freaks people out sometimes, but I don't get any challenges, if I'm right.
It is only fair to post these toys, as it is most peoples' first introduction to RC. These helis are on Letterman all the time - it's kind of a running joke that he can't fly them. People are very familiar with them, and they should know that these products are used and respected in the greater RC pilot community as the entry-level products that they are.
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