Helizone Lightning Bird WL V911 4 Channel Single Rotor 2.4 Ghz Remote Control Helicopter - Special Edition with upgraded battery

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Product Description

Helizone RC introduces the newest Lightning bird with 2.4 Ghz technology transmitter system and gyro for stability. This 4 Channel helicopter is your perfect step up from 3 Channel helicopter and can perform extreme speed, precision and agility. Now with an external 3.7v 200 mah battery, flight time is improved and enhanced from similar models. 4 Channel Single rotor helicopter allows you to fly forward/backward, left/right, up/down, and side to side. The lightning bird is built and constructed for speed, agility and durability. Please note: This is a hobby graded helicopter and is recommended as a step up from a 3 Channel or for a beginner hobbyist. Spare parts are readily available for purchase.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6396 in Toys & Games
• Brand: Helizone RC
• Dimensions: 2.00 pounds

Features

• Comes with 2 X 3.7V 200 Mah battery (upgraded from 120 mah to 200 mah)
• 4 Channel 2.4 Ghz Helicopter with Gyro, Ready to Fly
• Fixed Pitch Single Rotor
• 8-12 minutes flight time
• Fly forward/backward, left/right, up/down, and roll (side to side)

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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

50 of 53 people found the following review helpful.
RC Groups extensive Helizone Lightning Bird review
By RCGroups review
For full review of the Helizone Lightningbird on RC Groups with picture gallery and video please google "Helizone Lightning bird review"

Flying

In as-delivered trim, the Lightning Bird is an excellent stepping-up point for those experienced with small coaxials. Beginners, please note that gentle throttle is necessary when spooling up a helicopter such as this since the throttle makes it climb. Too much too fast and you'll have a little black missile zooming toward the ceiling.

Ah, though you may laugh, dear reader, I can tell you with all honesty that a friend of mine with no prior R/C experience once augered a little coaxial into his ceiling with a full throttle takeoff for its one and only flight.
I have a "name brand" nano similar to the Lightning Bird, so I had an idea of what to expect. I just didn't expect it to be this good.

Not only is the helicopter nice and compact, so too is the transmitter.

The Lightning Bird lifted off from my living room floor as smoothly and as stable as a far more expensive helicopter. The geared servos make for very smooth control and even in the relatively gentle "Mode 1" setting, this is one fast and responsive little chopper.

Even with the servo pushrods and swashplate links set for maximum throw, the Lightning Bird never felt as if it were anything but smoothly controllable.
What impressed me the most was the relative lack of the "pendulum effect" common with fixed-pitch models when transitioning from forward flight back to hover. My other nano requires a lot of fiddling with the transmitter sticks to keep it from swinging back and forth before settling down. Not so the Lightning Bird. It pulled back almost as nicely as a CCPM machine, simply transitioning back to hover with little drama.

Switching to Mode 2 really woke things up. Pirouettes in Mode 1 are relatively slow and lazy, but the Lightning Bird spins like crazy on Mode 2. Spinning the tail and releasing the stick results in an immediate stop with only the slightest hint of tail bounce. Cyclic is a lot more responsive as well and can be made even more so by relocating the servo pushrods to the outside holes of the servo arms and relocating the swashplate links to the longer ball links of the base of the swashplate.

I tried it outside in my front yard; not too bad. Problem is, the conditions must be dead calm because even a slight breeze is going to make things difficult for the Lightning Bird. There was only a whisper of a breeze, but I found myself fighting the controls.

The same problem arose at the Coachella Valley Radio Control Club's helicopter pad during the video shoot. It simply wouldn't fly forward against the breeze even on high rates. Since there's no way to program exponential in the transmitter, switching to Mode 2 resulted in a hyper-sensitive tail...and very little headway.

Beginners should please note that outdoor performance of this nature is typical of a nano helicopter like the Lightning Bird. In fact, a coaxial of similar size would have been plain unflyable.

Inside the Box:

The complete contents of the box/carrying case, including the transmitter, flight batteries, charger, USB cable and spare rotors. The manual is underneath the tray.

The display box/storage case with its dramatic graphics contains the following goodies:
* Fully assembled and aligned Lightning Bird helicopter
* Four-channel 2.4GHz transmitter with illuminated LCD display, battery charger power lead, digital trims and switchable dual rates
* USB-powered charger and cord
* Two 200mAh 3.7V lithium polymer batteries
* Spare main blades and tail rotor
* Illustrated operation manual
All that will be needed are:
* Six AA-cell alkaline batteries for the transmitter

Everything needed to get flying is laid out and ready to go.

As attractive and dramatic as the packaging is, there is, at least to my eye, a small glitch.
The top panel shows the transmitter, not the helicopter.
No matter. What's inside is what matters and what's inside is nice. Dramatic, too.

Aerobatics/Special Flight Performance

The Lightning Bird will, of course, do things like backward flight which is quite stable. With a bit of practice, someone transitioning from a coaxial will find themselves performing both tail-in and tail-out funnels. Pirouettes are a blast in both modes, performing them with little or no loss of altitude. My other nano needs some throttle to help keep it airborne during piros.

It's small enough to be relatively unaffected by low-altitude ground effects, so hovering an inch or two above the ground or spot landings are a cinch.

Is This For a Beginner?

An experienced beginner comfortable with flying a coaxial in any orientation is going to love this little chopper. It has almost all the stability in hover with a lot more speed and maneuverability. Intermediate and advanced pilots are going to want to have one around just for blasting around the living room. If one has access to a large indoor area such a gym, the fun would be almost unlimited regardless of skill level.

Transmitter:

Firing it up illuminates both the large red power indicator, the large blue LCD display and a series of alert tones. The display really isn't useable while the model is in flight, but it does give indication that the sticks are operating properly prior to takeoff as well as the battery level, trims and dual rates.
Of the two chrome buttons atop the transmitter, the right is a dummy while the left allows the model's high and low control rates to be adjusted in flight. The display reads either "MODE 1" or "MODE 2," which in this case refers not to the transmitter sticks but the control rates. There's an audible tone which sounds once for the default Mode 1 and twice for Mode 2, or aggressive.

Should one wish to really get aggressive, the servo pushrods can be moved to the outside holes on the arms and the swashplate links moved to the longer set of ball links on the swashplate itself. That's how mine arrived.

Digital trim tabs easily trim the Lightning Bird in flight. Like a more expensive unit, once the transmitter is powered down, the settings are retained. As I would soon learn, my particular example came trimmed and ready, needing only one click of left aileron to get it to hover hands off.

Since my example came already bound to the transmitter, getting the Lightning Bird ready was a simple as plugging in the battery and keeping it still while the receiver initialized. A red LED flashes slowly for about a second or two and rapidly for about four seconds. When the LED glows solid red, the servos snap to attention and the model is ready to fly.

If necessary, the binding procedure is simple and once bound, the units will stay bound to one another.
The board itself is worthy of a mention. Many nano-sized aircraft utilize some sort of exposed linear servo to work the control surfaces.
Not so the Lightning Bird.

Conclusion

The Helizone RC Lightning Bird is, simply put, a winner. It combines a proven and popular design with a super low price through a US-based distributor, one which will support it with parts and service.

It isn't quite as high tech as some of the flybarless nanos which have hit the market in recent months, but it has the advantage of affordability and terrific flight characteristics regardless of the traditional design.

Besides, I find it difficult not to like anything that looks like a baby Black Ops chopper. Therefore, the Lightning Bird gets two thumbs way up. It's a rare bird indeed - lightning or otherwise - that turns out to be just as much fun for beginners as it is for more advanced helicopter pilots.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful.
Had promise, but amazing customer service (HalleyRUs)
By Travis Turner
well to be frank this thing is cheap feeling. I right away did not feel like I got my $50 worth. During every flight it had the "toilet bowl" effect. (Where the heli faces the same direction but going around in a horizontal circle)
This effected the flight of the helicopter a lot. After about 5-6 light crashes the pins on the back of the battery attachment started getting loose, making the vibration from flight....disconnect the battery making the heli drop from the air.

Edit:
Within hours of the review above being posted Halley R US contacted me via email offering a replacement device that would be in house tested and guaranteed working. This is by far the best customer service I have gotten online.
If you feel like your heli is not working as advertised, do not hesitate to contact them, they are great. Even though my original score was 2 stars, the service alone gives it two more.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
Flies to well
By RWF
I took the helicopter out of the package inserted battery and fly easily for a couple of minutes. I then fully charged the batteries and flew for about 5 minutes when I let it get way too high. I did not let off the throttle while I was trying to turn it around. It was nearly dusk and I lost the orientation of the copter. It flew over some trees and I lost sight of it before I realized I had not throttled down. I have searched for two days and I cannot find it. Please don't fly at dusk.