Remote Control Plane F-22 Raptor, 2.4GHz Rc Airplane with Smart Gyro/LED Lights/3 Rechargeable Batteries, Foam RC Jet Glider Gift for Kids Boys Girls 8-12 Year Old (Red)

This is a far cry from the Air Hogs Skybusters I grew up with a decade ago. Same principle, but done correctly.Electronics: the gyro noticeably alters flight characteristics. It handles wind and breezes surprisingly well. Motors have plenty of power, I was actually surprised with the speed. Detachable batteries are wonderful, and they even give you two chargers. If you had more batteries, you could fly this thing all day. The lights on the bottom were also an awesome feature I didn't know I needed, but it makes a lot of sense, so flying in total darkness is a possibility. My one gripe if any is the transmitter, I don't have much confidence when I'm using it. I wish it wasn't so blobby-looking. Maybe some sharper corners would make it look cooler.Flight experience: I've flown plenty of 4 channel aircraft before, and this is a true 2 channel plane. No rudder or elevator, just forward and yaw controls. That said, I was pleasantly surprised with the speed. To go up, you increase thrust, and if it tries to stall, just turn to one side and it instantly levels out. It's easy to land where you want it, and I even got to where I could land it so close I could reach forward and pick it up without moving my feet. The only gripe I'd have with the flight performance is the plane more than once would be flipped by a gust of wind, and once on it's back, there's no way to recover it in flight, unless you're really high up. The only thing you can do is cut power to reduce damage on landing. That said, the plane is extremely durable, and I haven't managed to damage it with normal flying.Things I love:Excellent value. Two batteries and two chargers, also. Tons of fun for $50Gyro. It makes flying even in tougher wind much easierFaster than I expectedExtremely durable. The only way to break it is to step on it or set something heavy on itBiggest issues:once you assemble the vertical stabilizers, the plane does not slide back into the box, making transport a little more tedious than I would like.Flipping onto its back in midair (only if it's windy)Stickers don't come off, so you either like them or you don't (fine for kids, but I prefer a more plain look)Should you buy: Yes. You can fly it basically anywhere, parking lots (empty, preferably) or a youth soccer field (where I did most of my flying) but any open space will do. Kids would not have trouble flying it, as long as you remind them not to let it get too high up, or too far away.

My 10 yr old son enjoyed being "Maverick" when flying this plane, and I was really impressed at how simple this plane was to fly. My son had no experience flying an RC airplane before, but does drive RC cars. We only flew it when hand thrown, on a day with a light breeze. Also, we did go down to a grassy field (~6 soccer fields long) so we had plenty of room.I was really surprised at how the plane can climb and move through the air because it is so light. The build quality was nice in that the plane is very light, and they added a collapsible nose rubber (to absorb any nose plants into the ground). However, the front wheel has much to be desired, as it isn't straight and doesn't lock into place (like the rear wheels). It fell out a few times (luckily close to where we landed) before it sheared off on one landing. However, I am still able to use the broken front wheel (see photos).When flying, the plane climbs very quickly, however the turning radius is very large. Luckily we were in a large open space, but even then, it did see them that plane wasn't turning and was drifting further out.However, this could also be due to the lightness of the plane and the wind at the time. I don't think 400' control is an exaggeration as I really thought at one point we would just lose control and the plane would come crashing down, but we were able to turn it and have it come back.We crashed the plane several times as it cannot recover from too much of a dive, but as I mentioned earlier, the rubber nose seemed to help control the impact and there was no damage to the plane itself (other than the front landing gear). However, after a few flights, my son was able to get it to somewhat glide down (only nose diving around 3' from the ground).Although the lights on the plane seem cool, I don't think we'll ever really get to see them as we'd probably only fly this during the day.Battery life is great - we flew for around 15 minutes total before we had to change out the battery. I liked that an extra battery is provided (as well as the extra props and landing gear). Note, there is no on/off switch so it tries to pair as soon as the battery is connected.Overall, I think this is well worth the cost and is an easy plane to fly for most ages, as long as there is plenty of space to fly in.

Worked great for the first few months. Then battery life became noticeably lower. Would not recommend as it does not last very long. Remote stopped communicating with the plane. Ended up throwing it away because return window had closed.

This remote control airplane is shockingly good! I completely expected this thing to be a disaster considering it’s $25. I assumed it would be extremely difficult to fly with terrible controls and would disintegrate the first time that it crashed. Quite the opposite, though. We took it to a large parking lot and both both my eight-year-old and six-year-old were able to fly it pretty well and they crashed it a number of times each time surviving the impact without hardly a scratch. The front wheel bent slightly, but it bent right back and one of the engines did pop off, but that was due to one of the kids accidentally pulling on it and we were able to glue it right back on and it’s good as new. It comes with three batteries, which is outstanding they come charged as well which is great so the kids didn’t have to wait. Could they have flown the plane immediately without my help? No. But they picked it up very quickly with my help and they freaking LOVE this thing.

These are fun. In the top 10 of most fun you can have for $35 bucks off Amazon. You need some room to fly them - not for apartment complexes or close neighborhoods. Also, don't install the wheels. The wheels are basically just for looks, create unnecessary air drag, and make the plane get stuck in trees easier if you crash. To fly, turn on full throttle and throw at 45° angle up into the wind like a paper airplane. Play with throttle and you can do circles and figure 8s. It does not fly well in much more than a very light breeze. It handles much better flying into the wind than with it.