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Silverlit PicooZ Helicopter - Metro Fly from A. B. Gee Ltd
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Minimum Age: 8 years
Rating:  
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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Our Editorial Review
Product Description Following unprecedented demand for the tiny Picoo Z Micro Helicopter, the smallest and lightest miniature Infra Red controlled Helicopter in the World, see the colourful new Silverlit �Special Edition Collection� for 2007, featuring the Khaki camouflaged �Desert King�, Stunning Silver �Metro Fly�, and retro style �Pinki�, that is sure to prove popular for girls!... Still only 17cms long, and weighing an unbelievable 10 grams, these amazing new Picoo Z Helicopters are inherently stable and easy to fly in the smallest of spaces, and are fantastic fun for all the familySupplied completely ready-to-fly with an innovative pre-installed two channel proportional wide beam infra red control system, the lightweight Lithium Polymer flight battery will provide flights of up to 10 minutes between charges, yet can be recharged in less than half an hour with the portable charger provided.These inexpensive Picoo Z Micro Helicopters are remarkably robust made of tough expanded Polypropylene foam, feature an LED strobe light for flights in the dark, and incorporate an auto stability system to make these easy to operate, both indoors and outside in calm conditions.
Customer Reviews
First helicopter - an early report Posted 18 August 2008
Right , Ive got a bit of time to write while the PicooZ charges up again so I thought I would write the sort of review I would like to read if I was contemplating buying one. If your not in for a longish read then i'll summaries it for you now in one sentence;
Yes, buy one but don't expect you'll be Mr/Mrs Airwolf from what is essentially a 2 channel toy that cost £20. With that in mind you can't go wrong.
For anyone else that wants more detail read on ....
first things first- some more flesh on the ratings ive given it:-
how much fun is this toy? - 5 stars. It's all relative of course but unless you have the attention span of a gnat , the co-ordination and reaction times of a sloth and just plain don't like the idea of flying your own model helicopter round the house (in which case what are you doing here?) - you'll love this little toy.
How would you rate this toys educational value? 5 stars. More than a few goes of this and your going to have a pretty good idea of what things 'like' lift and 'thrust' really mean. The significance of moving and static air and maybe even the influence of thermals, the value of patience and a whole load other vast if nebulous skills. Your kid will love you if you buy one and for £20 i'll amazed if it doesn't trounce Aunty Gertrude's selection of soft soaps as present number one year 200_ ( insert at will)
How durable is this toy? 3 stars. Could have been 5 because I haven't broken it yet despite managing to guide the thing into the top of a standard lamp shade and it clattering to silence against the bulb and lampshade struts (mercy!). However 3 not 5 because if you push it far enough or are plain unlucky - it WILL break. I guess ive just been lucky so far.
How do you rate this toy overall? 5 stars. I could gush on about it but lets just say i can't remember being as excited about opening a package since I was a kid. I wasn't wrong to be either.
OK now the main observations from a one day old pilot with 5 flights under his belt.
In no particular order...
* noise levels- makes less noise than a cordless handheld 9v vacuum cleaner and won't interfere with someone else watching telly unless you normally have the volume way down low.
*charge instruction - mine says that the green light will flash then go solid when it's charged. What actually happens is that a solid green light goes on and then goes OFF when it's charged. Yours may be different but if it's like mine - it's fine.
*The helicopter gets it's juice from the AA's in the remote. Switch the 'copter and remote off before plugging in then switch the remote on to feed power to the 'copter. This is not made explicit from the instructions. This may be obvious to many but i'm talking to my fellow luddites here.
* following on from the above - because it gets it's 'juice' from the AA's...expect to buy lots of AA's.
* yes, it's only two channels and you'll read many reviews that say it can't really fly properly forward. They're right to some extent but three points 1) when you get a little more experienced i'm sure adding some gentle weight to the nose will produce a better nose-down or forward pitch effect. Until then, stick with the aluminium stickers that come with it to start. They give just the slightest whiff of forward motion if you stack them on top of each other which is fine to start.2) this is a simple toy and for further down the line there is always the 3 channel Atlas of TandemZ as the next level. For about a fiver more - why not?3) hovering and just getting control of the thing may LOOK boring but I assure you that when the controls are in your hand just attaining a steady height and nose positon is enthralling.
*(Self edited section) I had initially suggested that I thought that the tail rotor was a simple free spinning blade- driven by the blast of air from the main rotor. Wrong- on closer examination there is the tinniest of motors driving it and connected to the main fuselage by a wire down the spine of the tail fin. As I said in the first draft - I think this rotor must contribute something to the stability of the flight by preventing the helicopter from tracking sideways.
Some final points on flying
* A literally breathless room is going to give you the best chance to get some control. Close the windows and doors. This thing weights 10 grammes which is mite less than my last sneeze. Give yourself a fighting chance.
* low flight is best if you've haven't ordered spares. Higher you fly, further you'll fall ...and more damage your likely to inflict. Sit down and keep it buzzing around knee height- just as much fun and will save a few bob until you become proficient.
* when full throttle (left controller in full 'UP' position )doesn't provide any further lift and increase blade rotation speed (the helicopters noise pitch is another clue) then you're no more that 20 seconds away from the end of the ride. Set it down. Make a cuppa.
* edit - extra trick - try and keep it away from walls if you can as Ive found that the blast of air created by the main rotor(or maybe it's the tail rotor) seems to bounce back on the helicopter and create stability and manouvering problems. If you need to 'ditch' at this point- cut the throttle off- a blade than is not spinning is less likely to break when it hits the floor.
everything else you need to know is covered in the other reviews
I hope this helps and that you have as much fun with it as I am
Picco Z - What a Toy Posted 20 June 2008
I was not even planning to buy this toy, let alone know about it in the first place... My work Colleague just mentioned about it and then i just watched a couple of youtube's and then the next thing im handing my credit card details to Amazon and the best part if im not buying one but 2 one for me and my colleague...
About the Picco Z itself... Well im pretty impressed with its durability because ive crashed it a million times already and except for the tail rotor everything has held up to what they say it will... But saying that i guess the people who make or sell this stuff know that the tail rotor will not survive the rigerous crashes so the spare rotor was a welcome smile...
U do need practice and a bit of modification like a paperclip on the nose to make it move forward and to give more stability and trust me once u are up and running u'll be impressed. The 10 min might sound too little but with the amount of effort u have to put in to control and fly this baby it feels like ur up for 30 min at least...
It is an indoors toy because even the slightest breeze can throw u off course and give the choper a mind of its own but hey on a good sunny day with no wind ur gold...
faster then then the normal pico's but comes with a price Posted 18 April 2008
faster and better then the normal pico z's but they don'nt take as much punishment. So just make sure you don't crash to much with this one as they can't take it. ive gone through 2 tail motors and a rotor.
Excellent !! Posted 10 January 2008
These little helicopters are excellent, i bought 3 as xmas pressie and have been asked lots of times 'where did you get that from, i'd love one!" my kids all have one as they can be flown on different frequencies, they are more robust then they look, would reccomend them to anyone for any age!
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