Discussion Helizone RC Lightning Bird RTF - Review!

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Intrepid reporter Ralph Squillace has put up a great review of the Helizone RC Lightning Bird RTF. In these upcoming cold months, this might just be the ticket to having a little aerial fun around the house! Read on to see what Ralph says, and click the link below for the review!

Helizone RC Lightning Bird RTF Nano Helicopter Review
By Ralph Squillace

Back in 2011, I had the pleasure of reviewing the Helizone RC Thunderbird indoor coaxial helicopter provided by the Helizone RC folks in Los Angeles, CA.

Since then, they've been both generous and gracious aid in keeping both my Thunderbird in the air, cheerfully providing parts and technical service. In fact, I was sent two Thunderbirds for that review in case of any technical glitches and I made a Christmas gift to my son of the second one.

Pleased to say there weren't any and my T-Bird is still flying high today. So is my son's.

During our correspondence, I was told of an upcoming fixed-pitch single-rotor nano helicopter in the works, one over which they traveled to China to meet directly with the factory in order to make this more than a simple color and decal change.

It's my pleasure to present an example of the very first production run of the Helizone RC Lightning Bird fixed pitch nano.

Based on the WLtoys V911, the 100-class Lightning Bird (or "Lightningbird" according to the canopy) improves on that design with far larger 200mAh batteries as opposed to the original's 120mAh units. There's also a less troublesome connector. It's similar to, but not exactly like, the battery found on the WLtoys-sourced Align T-Rex 100.

This particular sample is actually the second Lightning Bird sent to me. The first was a pre-production unit with proposed 150mAh batteries fitted with the Nine Eagles-styled connectors of the original WLtoys version. It arrived in a box with V911 graphics and a transmitter with a "WLTOYS" badge. Mr. Ho was even kind enough to email a copy of the .png file used in the creation of the graphics.

It goes without saying that travel to and from China is far from inexpensive and should impart how serious Helizone is to make a splash with this model.

The price will certainly help. It's available through Amazon.com for US$59.99 and ships from the US. There’s a special introduction launch special at $49.99 with free shipping while supplies last!

The result of all that traveling and engineering is the subject of this review.

Since it's assembled and ready, getting airborne will be a breeze.

Click here for the review