3-Ch Indoor RC Chinook Helicopter

Reader Reviews
The Syma S026 Chinook Transport is a fine little indoor helicopter. This model came with a dedicated charger that quickly recharges the battery and allows for a flight time in excess of five minutes. The control has additional features from the typical 3 channel models that allow the operator to adjust forward and reverse flight and will hover in one place without spinning or yawing. I've found that in my small space using the power for elevation and the attitude controls for forward or reverse angles with the yaw control dial allows me to navigate with precision. It's a unique experience and quite impressive to land on a "designated heli-port" with pecision. Now for the downer, so to speak. The first unit I received had a defective board and was returned to the seller. The replacement unit was received with a li-poly battery that had reached the limits of its life, it definietly had been a demo unit but I've no complaints as I was happy to have a functioning model. This could have been tragic but I had acquired some li-poly batteries for replacment parts for other Syma models and I had a new S026 battery available. Installation was a pickle because the units haven't been designed for easy battery replacement but that will probably be addressed in the next models. I will be replacing the "stock" battery with a 400mah battery soon and I expect that it will increase my air time to over fifteen minutes, but ten minutes that can be had with the stock battery is great. I'll take a moment to discuss the battery replacement. The helicopter is disassembled by removing eight screws that join the two halfs of the fuselage. Once the fuselage is removed access to the battery, motors, and control board is accomplished. It is possible to acquire spare motors, control boards and batteries for this unit but the wires of each component are fine and take a light touch. If you don't mind working with delicate electronic components this can be enjoyable. The original unit had a defective board, apparently one of the diodes was reversed and it was easier to get the replacement unit than to spend the effort to locate the defective component or purchase a new board. I would like to make it a matter of record that I do not fault the retailer TPA Store for the problems that ocurred, the unit was delivered in a sealed package with an obvious manufacturing defect. In my eagerness I disassembled the unit and did a diaognostic on it to find the problem, which I suspected was an battery malfunction, I was wrong. They were quite gratious and eagerly replaced the unit to my satisfaction even with the knowledge that I had disassembled the aircraft. I have been flying this little aircraft to my delight since its arrival, after the replacement of the Li-poly battery. So, yes I am a happy camper.