Army AH-64 Apache Mini RC Helicopter

Bought nine SYMA 3 Channel S012 Mini AH-64 RC Helicopters from Amazon.Com for 9 yr old nephew, three nieces, 8 yrs, 9yrs and 11 yrs, and 32yr old son (so the kids would go home with a helicopter that worked when they left). These helicopters are rugged!

They were also the star present from Santa. The four youngsters learned to fly them up, down, forward and back, hovering and diving, with the only grumble that they had to wait while they recharged. 9 yr old nephew took the rockets attached to the sides off as he found them too cumbersome and had it diving all over the place, coming round a corner to attack. My niece had it flying around evading a rolled up napkin nephew was using to attempt to bring it down. Helicopter dropped numerous times but they all went home in one piece. These little helicopters are solid. I know, I've bought them each Christmas for the past three years and had these kids crying when they left to go home with broken planes. Not this...Read more

I just stopped flying to recharge the batteries on the Apache. I bought this Helicopter not expecting much in the way of fun and durability. I figured at this price it would last a weekend and be off to the trash. Was I ever wrong. Not only have my boys and I learned how to fly with this helicopter we have bumped it into walls, ceilings and everything else in the house along the way. I thought that since it was so inexpensive it would be marginal with regard to flight controls but it is actually pretty good and we are having to fight over who fly's it next.
If you want to learn how to fly an RC Helicopter I think this is a great way to start. Highly Recommend!

Ordered on a Friday, received on Thursday. Toy has a bit of a learning curve -- could not imagine giving to a kid under 11 or 12, as its fragile body probably wouldn't last more than a couple flights (you run into a lot of walls and land pretty roughly your first couple tries). A blast once you get the hang of it, though. 15-20 minutes' charge gets you 5-6 minutes' flight, and three channels means you get up/down, left/right rotation, and forward/backward. Instruction manual is laughably translated to English, but intelligible. Seems to be a good ice-breaker for a serious RC copter.