We bought the Air Hogs two pack with a helicopter and a flying wing. The Air Hogs are small remote controlled air craft. Two boys, two flying machines – the math seemed solid.
We first tried the helicopter inside. The controls are very sensitive, and the copter has a tendency to rise suddenly. We hit the ceiling and walls. A lot.
We took it outside and had better luck. The controls are better suited for wide open spaces that are forgiving of little missteps. The run time is only a couple of minutes, but it recharges quickly (we ignored the admonition on the charger to wait five minutes between charges without suffering any obvious repercussions).
The flying wing is interesting. It doesn’t have any controls. You just charge it up and let it go. Well, sort of. You have to give it a toss, like a paper airplane, to get it going. Then it will go and go, flip and fly for a pretty good way before it crashes. The biggest trick is getting the toss right. We crashed into the ground quite a few times before we mastered the launch.
The main problem with both vehicles is the durability. You are going to hit obstacles, particularly with the flying wing, which you cannot control. Maybe if you have a wide open field it would last better, but we live in the real world. Even though we launched out in the open, we managed to hit trees, the driveway, the road, and the house. Before long the rudder was bent, causing even more erratic flight, which lead to more crashes and more damage.
We got a couple of weeks’ use out of the Air Hogs before the flying wing was broken beyond repair. The helicopter lasted a little longer, but within three months both were out of commission. The bottom line: the Air Hogs are fun, but not very durable and not worth the money.