Swann Micro Hornet RC Helicopter Review

Joe Tech — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 02:50:46 +0000

I’ve had a lot of fun reviewing RC toys in the past, and the Swann Micro Hornet R/C helicopter I received was no exception. From what’s in the box to price to how easy it is to fly, I’ll introduce you to one of my newest toys in this review.

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In The Box

When I opened up the packaging, I found the Micro Hornet, a remote control unit, a spare set of main rotor blades, and a screwdriver to open up the battery compartment on the remote control. I like when the manufacturer includes that little screwdriver. It’s just enough to get the job done and I hate getting all excited about a toy, opening it up, and then having to hunt around for tools first. The helicopter came fully assembled and just needed a quick charge (about 30 minutes) to get up in the air. These small indoor helicopters charge pretty quickly but only give you about five to eight minutes of flying time on a charge. For anything else, that might be a problem, but for a beginner toy like this, five minutes is just about enough time for a little practice session. Also in the box was a USB charging cable so you don’t have to use up the batteries in the controller between flights and, of course, the user’s manual.

How To Fly The Hornet

If you’ve never flown an R/C helicopter before, the idea of it can be a bit menacing, even for an easy one like this. Unlike R/C cars, you’re in the air, untethered. If you mess up, it could crash to the ground, smashing into bits. That’s what I thought, anyway. When I got it in the air, it wasn’t long before it came back down, a few times, but took no damage at all. This durable little helicopter took a few falls from me. It was also easier to maneuver than other R/C choppers I piloted. Like every helicopter I’ve flown, steering is the easy part and the hard part is applying just the right amount of finesse to the controls to keep from hitting the ceiling without plummeting to the ground. It only took a few practices to get that down, though. The controls on this were more complicated than other R/C helicopters, offering movement in six directions: up, down, forward, backward, left, right. The additional control took a little longer to get comfortable with, but ultimately made smooth flight easier to accomplish.

Specifications

Rotor Diameter – 4.5″ / 115mm
Dimensions – 5.5″ x 4.5″ x 2.75″ (Including rotors)
Weight – 0.53 oz / 15g (Helicoptor only)
Helicopter Battery – Built-in 3.7V 130mAh Li-poly
Remote Control – Infrared
Remote Control Batteries – 6 x AA

Conclusions

Priced around $35-$50, the Swann Micro Hornet is a great entry level R/C helicopter for anyone who has ever wanted to try flying one. It’s tiny enough to fly in a small room comfortably but offers all the controls to get smooth flying down to an art. You’ll need to pick up a 6 pack of batteries before you can have any fun, though. This helicopter is priced higher than the last one I reviewed, but seemed a bit more durable and includes more advanced controls. If you don’t mind paying a little more, you’ll get what you pay for with the Micro Hornet.

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Thief Caught Stealing From A Security Company Booth At CES

Joe Tech — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:23:27 +0000

As you may know, I had my own little security problem at my house when a guy was repeatedly urinating on my storage building in the wee hours of the morning (no pun intended). Luckily, I was slated to review a very flexible and professional security camera system and caught the guy on video before catching him in person. The video and photo are in that post above, but today I learned of something just as interesting that happened at CES.

In the incident I referenced above, my late night visitor had no way of knowing I was recording him because I hid the camera very well and it was dark and late. In this story, the star of the video, Willy Wu, walks up to a booth, picks up the contacts book full of information from potential clients looking for further contact from the company, leafs through it, and casually walks away with it. At any other booth, he may have gotten away easily in a show as enormous as CES. Unfortunately for Wu, the booth he took the book from was that of Swann Security, a global leader in security monitoring solutions. Now that’s just dumb.

According to the article, Swann staff caught up with the guy at CES pretty quickly and he handed over the book without hesitation, but then ran off. Eventually, they’ll catch back up with him, but the important thing here is that he didn’t get away with all that client data.

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