Syma X5 4 Channel 2.4GHz RC Explorers Quad Copter (Camera Sold Separately)

I have been a surface RC'er for the last few years, but in the last 6 months, discovered that I really like and enjoy flying the Quadcopters. I have amassed no less then 20 of them in that time ranging in price from $16 all the way up to $2000. But more to the point is this Quad here.I discovered quite early on that one doesn't have to pay a lot of money in order to get a good quality Quad that will you will enjoy flying.You do need to take into consideration a few things before you buy this, or any other Quad. Is it for you or is it a gift, and if it's a gift, is it for a young person or adult? If it's for a younger person, you may want to look at an Air-Hog or similar, just because of the durability of it. A lot of these Quads are less then forgiving and will break quite easily, and not to say they can't be easily repaired, they can. But the fun factor flies ( no pun intended) out the window! If for an adult? Will it be an indoor or outdoor flyer? Do you want to have a camera on it? There are a few questions you do need to ask yourself. But once you have. Your good to go. Now onto this Syma.Syma makes quality Quads, they have been around a number of years and do stand behind their products. Keep in mind they're in China, so any R&A issues may take awhile to sort out. that said. This is a great flyer for both indoor and outside flying. The latter once you become familiar with how to fly one. This X5 comes with everything you'll need in the box, minus the batteries for the transmitter, but that's only 4 double A's. It does come with a spare set of prop blades and blade guards (which I recommend you use to start with) which add weight to the craft and lessens the flight time a bit. The battery takes roughly 30 minutes to charge and is done so from a USB port, and you can expect a flight time of 7 minutes with a 15 second LDC warning (cutoff time) so you may safely land it. This Quad is really an outdoor flyer as it's 13" on the diagonal, but it is very light and I wouldn't try flying it in winds over 5-10 mph, as it tends to get pushed around, and when your learning to fly, only makes it that much more difficult. It has very visible LED lighting on it, Green in front, Red in rear and is easily visible, especially at night. They do make a model the X%-C which has a camera with it. But from experience I can tell you that the quality isn't very good. If you want to use it for a goof and look around over your house etc? Then it'll be fine. But if your thinking "I'll film my daughters wedding with it"? Forget it lol. You'll need to invest in a much higher end model.All that said. This is a great flyer and a lot of fun. It is in fact one of my "go to" flyers when I just want to play around and have fun and chase my Jack Russells (they go mad lol) and the like. It will perform very tight funnels and flips which are fun, all with the push of a button and will impress your non-flyer friends with your expertise ;)All in all, I would by this Quad again and again and I have done so. One got blown away cause I flew it too high and I liked it so much I had to get another. You can't go wrong with this one and it's a great Quad to learn on and get into this hobby. Hope this has helped you in making a decision.

many people love this product, and it's camera equipped brothers. I find the batteries a bit tight and inconvenient to change, and somewhat low capacity. There are higher capacity LiPos available for this to boost flying time. I gotta wonder how well the fit though, it's tight.Yes, this product is easy to fly and stable, and the reviews here mention that over and over again, so I need not repeat or try to elaborate. And it's size makes it easy to spot at a distance and easy-ish to discern orientation at a distance. It would help if front and back were clearly marked in some contrasting scheme to facilitate telling how it's positioned (oriented about its vertical axis). But it's not a performance wiz either. Look on YouTube for Syma X5 clones and you'll see there are quite a few products trying to compete with the X5. Some do better at some things, like YAW rate. That's how fast it can turn around (in the horizontal plane) about its vertical axis, like the rudder does on an airplane. A good fast yaw rate really enhances maneuverability, and the X5, like many quads, is weak on yaw. I don't know why the manufacturers do that. They seem to do it on models they are trying to sell cheap. But yaw rate is a feature programmed into the controller (software settings). It has no bearing on cost. Maybe they think beginners might have trouble with faster yaw rates. But that too makes no sense, as almost all quads offer two or three speeds or rates to choose from, typically using slow yaw in the slow rates, and boosting yaw in the high rates. Except models like these, X5 and many other quads have slow yaw, no matter which speed rate is chosen.Have you read about headless mode? Some new quads are coming out with headless mode, and most or all of them handicap the yaw rates. What's up with that? Headless mode and good yaw performance can BOTH be programmed in to these things. Why mention this? Seeing another quad that mentions it has headless mode does not necessarily mean it really a better flying quad than the X5. I might be, might not. In theory, perfectly robust headless mode implemented with good yaw rates are feasible and could thus be competitive. So far there are few headless mode models that's I'd choose just for that feature. Google (YouTube) what LishiToys did with their L6052 when they "upgraded" it with headless mode. They severely handicapped it's performance. In the mean time, many people still love the X5 and it's newer versions (X5C, X5C-1, etc.)Do you need the camera version? Depends. They are low quality cameras. And you can attach your own camera to a basic X5, a camera that performs better for a good price. You would just loose convenience (can't use buttons on the controller to turn camera on/off during flight). With flights of maybe 5 minutes, there is no strong need to turn the video on/off during flight. Being able to take still pictures on demand while flying could be cool, but again, the cameras on the X5C are not known for great picture quality ;-) So the basic X5 still has value in the marketplace, my opinion.