Items tend to dribble through from the Toy Fair, it is held in January for the trade and items shown are often really aimed at the Christmas sales market which starts in the autumn. This was the only product that came home with me from the Toy Fair. It soon had favour amongst the young and even the not so young. The main difference between this and numerous other mini helicopters is that is easier to fly.
Buy Now...
It is described as for '8 & up' but at least one six year old can fly it successfully. As with all these type of products the heaviest thing by far is the controller unit.
From the tip of the rotor blade to the back of the unit is 29cm and it is 18cm across the blade, it stands 12cm tall. Mine was black with a clear Perspex cover for the cockpit. No polystyrene is sight unlike most of the lightweight offerings around.
The secret seems to be that it has two sets of rotors and they are offset so a blade in one or other of the sets is only 45 degrees from the next. There are also hoops round the outside - removable for advanced flyers - supplied without on the Salvation 2.
Should you have a clear area you can fly the Salvation 1 indoors but I suspect that aunt Jane's vase might get contacted if you do. The instructions suggest it has an indoor range of 100 feet.
The remote is 16x10x5cm and is fixed to 27MHz channel 2. The helicopter arrives fully assembled and the remote control only requires that you insert 8x'AA' batteries (not supplied) and screw in the antenna to the top of the remote.
A full charge for the helicopter should take around 45 minutes and the mains charger is supplied. If the helicopter can be charged from the mains then why not the remote control?
The unit comes with a twelve page manual that seems to cover everything.
So after putting in 8x'AA' batteries and giving the helicopter the required 45 minutes charging time it has a light that does tell you when it's charged. I cautiously place it on my empty garage floor and after a quick reread of the manual I gave it the required movements, much to my surprise a nice dignified rise from the ground, now to try and turn - less dignified - but I am still flying, now a fairly bumpy landing but I, my garage and the Salvation 1 are all still intact.
A lot of other mini helicopters I have seen are extremely difficult - even for experts - to get to take off. This was not, the twin rotors and of course the hoops round the edges are why this works.
On a still day I tried it in my garden and now emboldened I tried some more advanced stuff once round the apple tree - the helicopter and not me - and then I let a couple of younger people try. Sad to say they made my efforts looks feeble and take off's and landings were a breeze, then even the six year old younger sibling had a go and soon was as good as me, so it really must be easy.
Often the ideal would be for more than one to try to duel with each other so if you buy more than one make sure they are tuned to different channels or the results will not be good. With these you need to see which channel they are on before purchase. If you purchase by mail then specify - if you purchase two - that you want different channels.
This is so much easier to fly than most and it is better made, but it is expensive and why can you not charge the controller from the mains as well as the helicopter?
The cost from the link below is £42.42 including delivery. By the time you read this a smaller version of the Salvation 1 the Salvation 3 should be available and the blurb says ideal for 8-12 years.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0010SG5D2
www.bladeztoys.co.uk
!!
