I'd say it'd be worth a drive "inland" to get some, since hobby shops are still selling the gyro stabilized models for $100+

Get 5 of them, they come with a parts kit of the parts most likely to fail, blades, collective link, etc.

 

I just bought myself one of those 3 channel with giro helicopters from a shop called Mankind. I got it the shop, not online, for £19.
http://www.menkind.co.uk/gifts-gadg...-gyro-flyer-remote-control-helicopter-p111266
Compared to the 3 channel ones without giro, it's almost uncrashable.
It's a pretty heavy, metal framed thing, but it's pretty agile and powerful. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone in the UK.
It can also be charged from a USB port, as well as from the transmitter, which means that it shouldn't eat huge piles of batteries like all the previous one's I've had (that used to really annoy me).

 

I just bought myself one of those 3 channel with giro helicopters from a shop called Mankind. I got it the shop, not online, for £19.
http://www.menkind.co.uk/gifts-gadg...-gyro-flyer-remote-control-helicopter-p111266
Compared to the 3 channel ones without giro, it's almost uncrashable.
It's a pretty heavy, metal framed thing, but it's pretty agile and powerful. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone in the UK.
It can also be charged from a USB port, as well as from the transmitter, which means that it shouldn't eat huge piles of batteries like all the previous one's I've had (that used to really annoy me).

Oh, if only I was in the UK!

 

Just uploaded a video of my 3.5 channel heli.
I might buy another one, it does take quite a while to charge, and they don't last forever.
http://www.marksphotos.info/heli/heli.mp4
Of course, there's a good chance you won't be able to play it if you have different video codecs to me, but it's only 2.6MB.

 

They are a blast, aren't they?

Way more fun than the little ones without the gyro

 

To compare:

3.5 Channel Helo, like what is on sale at Penny's for $30 Missile launcher not functional on JCP version, and the Penny's one is Black and marked with US Army instead of Marines. Perfect turns, no fighting the controls, just FLY!

The 3 channel one He can't even get it off the ground or hover! Frustration! These are the $15 ones at JCP, but not really worth it for the frustration.

 

I promise I'll stop after this but here's a video of a couple of takeoffs and landings. Mini helicopters without giros are really hard to lift off the ground, so I always hand launch them, but the giro makes it much easier.
http://www.marksphotos.info/heli/heli2.mp4

 

Glasses. Half a dozen.

Odd but what I needed for daily use.

 

Glasses. Half a dozen.

Odd but what I needed for daily use.

I'm guessing you mean drinking glasses, as opposed to spectacles.

 

I promise I'll stop after this but here's a video of a couple of takeoffs and landings. Mini helicopters without giros are really hard to lift off the ground, so I always hand launch them, but the giro makes it much easier.
http://www.marksphotos.info/heli/heli2.mp4

Can you use DivX codec? Or download the 400 CODEC bundle for free off the net and use one of them, I have that installed.

 

For Christmas java says I got like 8 viruses and 1 worm,the windows
confirms that,my computer goes to sleep and I have too turn it off
and turn back on to wake it up. What do I click to see if I have
protection. The free windows run says yes and name them,but
I when push delete button nothing happens.Can someone walk me
thru a test. I have this java thing blicking all the time.I just log
on the forum,am I exposed to what.I have not been using the
e-mail.Any one want to bother with this question.

 

I'm guessing you mean drinking glasses, as opposed to spectacles.

Oh yes, drinking glasses. For water. A lot, not less than 2 litres a day.

I do not drink sodas of any kind or alcohol.

 

For Christmas java says I got like 8 viruses and 1 worm,the windows
confirms that,my computer goes to sleep and I have too turn it off
and turn back on to wake it up. What do I click to see if I have
protection. The free windows run says yes and name them,but
I when push delete button nothing happens.Can someone walk me
thru a test. I have this java thing blicking all the time.I just log
on the forum,am I exposed to what.I have not been using the
e-mail.Any one want to bother with this question.

Perhaps you could start a new thread? I'd like to help, but don't know how your virus software works...

 

Can you use DivX codec? Or download the 400 CODEC bundle for free off the net and use one of them, I have that installed.

I'm a noob at this video editing, I couldn't even open the first file in another video editor, so I redid it. I haven't managed to make it divx either, but hopefully most people will be able to open one of these:
First vid (flying):
http://youtu.be/km66Ydz3GL4
http://www.marksphotos.info/heli/heli.mpeg
Second vid (takeoff and landing):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubSlQhM4ERU
http://www.marksphotos.info/heli/heli2.mpeg

 

I had an itch to buy one myself, some months back. But I wanted the bigger birds which were out of my (money) league and I knew I wouldn't play with them for more than two weeks.

 

Geo, these are good "trainers" for a big bird. Though the gyro stabilization makes it way more fun, you don't get taught how to quickly manipulate the controls as you need to on a real R/C Heli.

These also are not capable of aerobatics like R/C Heli's are, flying upside down, doing rolls, things like that.

Overall, they are a still a 9/10 boredom buster for a day when you are stuck inside and don't have an electronic project in the works. One can only build so much, parts are getting spendy.

 

On the nonstandard presents--
For Christmas my children gave my cats the gifts--a 1 gallon stainless steel watering fountain and an automatic feeder that dispenses kibble twice a day (they KNOW when). This is so I can spend more time visiting the grandchildren!
I also got a three volume set of my family ancestry (American back to Norway, Germany, Lapland, & England) and a year subscription to the site ancestry.com which is really really cool if you are a history buff like me. I've got my people located all the way back to the 1500's. You can access other neat stuff there like really old census reports, too. (Please don't get me for spamming--this is not an advertisement for them!)

 

Geo, these are good "trainers" for a big bird. Though the gyro stabilization makes it way more fun, you don't get taught how to quickly manipulate the controls as you need to on a real R/C Heli.

These also are not capable of aerobatics like R/C Heli's are, flying upside down, doing rolls, things like that.

Overall, they are a still a 9/10 boredom buster for a day when you are stuck inside and don't have an electronic project in the works. One can only build so much, parts are getting spendy.

When my boys were in their early teens (they're now in their 40s), they told one of my friends that they wanted to be helicopter pilots when they grew up. He looked horrified!
"Oh, no! You do NOT want to do that. See, airplanes are designed to basically fly themselves, and the pilot's job is to steer them. Helicopters, on the other hand, are designed to turn upside down and fly into the ground, and it's the pilot's job to keep them from doing that."
My boys never became helicopter pilots.

 

"Oh, no! You do NOT want to do that. See, airplanes are designed to basically fly themselves, and the pilot's job is to steer them. Helicopters, on the other hand, are designed to turn upside down and fly into the ground, and it's the pilot's job to keep them from doing that."
My boys never became helicopter pilots.

That's pretty much true.

Airplanes use well known aerodynamic principles to gain momentum and fly.

Helicopters just beat the crap out of the air until it lets them do what they want.