Picoo Z Mini Heli
http://www.crazyfruitbat.com/product.php?productid=129&cat=0&bestseller For $30 (ratshack has 'em for that price) it's a damn good deal on something small and neat like that. I wonder what the "lifting" capacity is on it and if I could get a wireless camera on there (cheapo hong kong rig). Probably not...but for $30 it's still fun. I'm gonna run to rat shack and get one 'ere soon.

Cool

Ok, I couldn't resist temptation. I picked one of these babies up on my way from home. It's a great bit of fun for $30, but it has it's limitations too. cons:- it doesn't have any lifting power. -it's a 2 channel heli, so you get up+down and clockwise+counterclockwise, but no forward. -it takes ~30 minutes of charging to get 7 minutes of flight. -IR based control means mostly line-of-sight operation. -IR based control means outdoor operation isn't possible in bright sunlight. pros:-quite stable -easy to learn to fly -small enough for indoor flying in any size room -range of 30 feet. Some of the cons can be overcome with a bit of modding. Some users report 10 minutes of operation after oiling the rotors. A bit of slight modding can also give constant forward flight. Unless your budget is super tight, I'd recommend it at the $30 price. Search for "picoo z" at youtube if you want to see some sample flights, though a lot of the videos are by novice pilots.

Yeah I'm thinking of going for it (after school tomorrow). I'm thinking of getting a different mini heli...maybe one with a little more control/lifting. I still might grab this one so I can mess with people.

I grabbed one (for the kids :) a few weeks back. Also picked up an Air Hogs Aero Ace and it's a lot fun too. Another con of the Picco Z: it cannot handle much wind. The Aero Ace suffers the same affliction with its similar lightweight.

I wouldn't think something so small could work outside...period. Maybe on super calm days, but even then.... http://www.hobbytron.com/Winner-Full-Function-Cheap-RC-Electric-Helicopter.html It's $15 more, but it's got 3D flight...but it's some 19 inches long....alot bigger than this one, but more capable of carrying a small camera. I weighed the camera on a pos scale I've got...it's somewhere between 10-30 grams without the 50ish gram 9v. I'm gonna take it in to school and weigh it on a nice digital readout scale. I've got an RC plane, it's a mere .40 trainer, but it can haul some ass. I've not flown it in a long time...I feel I should bust it out and fly it again.

$25 more actually, but it looks like a lot of fun. Maybe I'll pick one up "for the kids" at Christmas. :wink: Anyhoo, I added a small bit of electrical tape to the nose of the picco and now I have a pretty decent forward motion. It's still a bit tricky to get it where I'm trying to go, as the heli is light enough to actually be affected by air current in the room, but it's a lot of fun trying. Oh yeah, one more pro: flashing blue LED!

Make it infrared...or fire :D

Mine had flame decal stickers on it already. I picked that style because I knew it would go faster. It seems adding a couple of pieces of tape to the nose for forward-thrust adds too much weight, causing it to tailspin! Instead I removed the tape and twisted the tail rotor so it slightly pointed down (manual suggested this in case the heli had backward motion). This gives a slow forward motion. I saw a vid where some guy stuck a paperclip hanging off the nose and that gave *a lot* of forward thrust. I suppose it's not the load, but where it's centered!

So Cool! I now own a helicopter. Any guesses as to how long it will take before I post an aerial video? First I need to get some detailed flight stats on cargo weight - BillW mentioned capability to handle a paper clip. Will I need a helium ballon to offset the weight of ratshack thumb cam? http://camerahacking.mine.nu/phils/demanufacturing/pv2/www/britezeye/digigr8/ftside.jpg I wish I'd bought some extra cams at $9.99 price. I could easily ruin it trying to remove USB connector.

You may have to, but first I'd try removing the casing of the thumbcam and anything else unnecessary. I'd also use light thread to attach it. Some of the forums report people removing their stickers and the clear gear-casing for slight weight reduction. I forget - does the thumbcam have a button type battery? Is that what's under the white tape? Congrats on the new toy!

Radioshack hasn't sold them for months. I'd imagine there will be even better thumb cams available before the holidays. Here are my two photos (front and back): Weight reduction would require using onboard power instead of lithium battery.

Broken Link. I deleted dakotamod's Flickr account after being banned from "The PN Dissident" forum.

The smallest camera I have is that wireless hong kong one and it still doubles the weight of that mini heli right there.