Have you ever flown a remote controlled helicopter? It can be tricky, but WowWee has a little R/C flyer that called the FlyTech Bladestar that can be controlled 100% by you or thrown on autopilot. They sent me one and I had a lot of fun with it worked hard to review it for you.
Getting to know the flying machine
In short, the Bladestar is a helicopter with two tails. It can be controlled with the remote controller or it can be set to autopilot where it will detect the ceiling, walls, and other objects and try to navigate away from them. It’s rechargeable and it’s made to be flown indoors. Intended for kids aged eight and up and adults like me who still think they’re a kid, it comes almost ready to go. You just have to attach the blades and read the included manual so you’ll know what you’re doing. It also comes with two extra propellers, two extra blades, a Dogfight accessory, and the user manual. The whole setup comes in a handy carrying case, too, so when you’re done playing, you can just put it all back the way you found it and store it easily.
The body of the Bladestar has a few of it’s own features worth mentioning. It’s Styrofoam with very little plastic to keep the weight low. On one side is the internal LED to let you know it’s on, the on/off switch, and the charge socket. The other side includes sensors for the autopilot. After about 10-15 minutes of fun, you can charge it up by first unscrewing the black cap on the right side of the remote conrol to reveal the charging cable, plugging that cable into the Bladestar, and then switching the controller to “Charge”.
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(You can see all the photos here)
Becoming an indoor pilot
Before playing with something I have to control remotely, I like to read through the manual. This seemed even more important, here, given that it was hard to tell at a glance which end of the controller to point at the the Bladestar. The manual has all the information you need to know and only a little more than necessary. This toy is not intended for outdoor use, and they make that very clear a few times in the user manual. They also suggest using it in a large room with no ceiling fan and not a lot of extra stuff in the room. I have no room like that, so I tried it outside. I know… I’m such a rebel. After a couple minutes outside, I quickly learned why you need to be indoors. There was barely a breeze, and this light-weight toy headed West and out of the reach of the remote control. When you fly one of these, always do it inside. Having learned my lesson, I took it back inside to practice and to create the video below. Even with obstacles in a small room with curious cats, it wasn’t too hard to keep it airborne.
Still, what comes up must come down and down it came a few times. Luckily, WowWee knows that we can’t all have a gymnasium or shopping mall to fly it in and that small rooms could result in some minor aerial accidents. To help us out, they included the two extra propellers and the extra pair of blades. Even with some accidents, though, I’ve thus far always found a missing propeller and the blades are still in pretty good shape. My only complaint is that the propellers seem to pop off pretty easily when they collide with an object. As I mentioned, I have (so far) always found a propeller that fell off, but it would be cool if it was less frequent. After a while, keeping the Bladestar under control becomes easier and things like the lifespan of a blade, the number of extra propellers, and cats become less of a worry.
The autopilot and dogfight modes are nice additions to the standard remote controlled helicopter that I haven’t seen elsewhere. I haven’t had a chance to get in a dogfight yet, but the autopilot I tried a few times. I only tried it a few times because it’s just a lot more fun to control it yourself and I needed the practice. Autopilot would be great for younger kids who might not have as much luck with the controls but still want to see it fly.
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