Syma X5C 4 Channel 2.4GHz RC Explorers Quad Copter w/ Camera

First off, this product arrived on time and undamaged.Overall Impression:This Quadcopter is a great little R/C "toy" for it's price.History (What I Use It For):I bought this product for my father (a retired pilot) who has Parkinson's Disease and Heart complications (replaced aortic valve, etc), so you can imagine he is not the most mobile or coordinated anymore. However, that being stated, he has no problem flying this in our fields. My reasoning for buying him this product is that he use to be heavily into R/C flying and had a workshop specifically built for building planes (both R/C and real planes). Before his health started to fade, he flew his R/C planes daily (weather permitting of course) and frequently built models for local clubs and aviation museums. However, after his first surgery, he no longer was able to accurately fly and he sold all of his planes (which you could tell broke his heart). Recently, I found this product and thought, what the heck, it seems stable…and indeed it is if there is no wind and the trim is adjusted properly. He was originally opposed to trying it, since he feared crashing it via his health symptoms, but after I finally made him take the controls, he fell in love with it. You could see the spark reignite his R/C aviation flame. As such, for the price, it is a wonderful and stable product. To top it off, I pressed the down button for him to record his flight and he was very impressed to see the farm from such a vantage point later on the computer. He always wanted to do that with his R/C planes, but never got around to it.Pros:1) This Quad is very stable in calm winds (no wind is best) and with proper trims set, which is easy to do (check your manual).2) Very light weight and the blades have a protective guard to reduce injury potentials.3) Flies accurately with good control handling.4) LED lights aid in dawn and dusk flights in terms of directionality (not so much during the daylight though).5) Comes with propeller blade replacements in case of damage (4 total).6) The camera is actually quite good in daylight conditions, not excellent, but still impressive. Not worth attempting though in darker conditions.7) Decent Battery Life. The Quadcopter's internal battery, which you charge via USB connections (unless you buy a different adapter which we didn't), lasts about 7-14 minutes pending the amount of torture you put it through (attitudes, speed variations, maneuvers, camera utilization, winds you are fighting, etc).8) Accessories are easy to come buy. I also bought, separately of course, four extra batteries, an extra 4 USB battery charger (buy one, you won't regret it), spare parts, and a carrying case with foam inserts specifically fit for it. Since I wanted a tighter fit for the chargers, batteries, and spare parts, I simply heated a screwdriver tip with a lighter and then melted smooth segments in the foam case to fit each piece perfectly (be care if you decide to do this and do it in a well ventilated area). Now my father has everything he needs in one light weight case... which is ideal.9) The batteries recharge quickly, about 60 minutes total with both chargers in use (the single one it came with and the extra one I bought with four charger docks). If you choose to buy a separate 4 battery charger like we did, you can spend your day flying the Quad longer with all 5 batteries (the one it comes with and the four separate dock one we bought extra), and then have them all recharge again in about an hour to go out flying again. It averages out to be about 35-70 minutes of flight time (usage dependent according to each battery's specs.) to only one hour of charge time. We personally average about 60 minutes each time we went out (with all five batteries) with a one hour charge duration. I assume if you so desired, you could bring a computer along and charge during flights too, but I wouldn't recommend it since the little motors should have some time to cool down between flights (to extend their life and not burn them out).Cons:1) It is difficult identifying directionality when it gets further away or higher in elevation. As you can imagine, since it is completely symmetrical, any directional cues vanish as it travels any distance. It does have LED lights to show directionality, which is great at dusk and/or dawn flights, but the lights are not clearly visible in daylight. It takes some practice to learn and might have been better if the product had been painted in two separate bright colors to easily address such a concern. However, for the price, that is truly not a flaw of the product, just personal preference.2) The Quad can be touchy in terms of synchronizing with the controller. Basically, make sure the Quad is level when starting of, otherwise, it tends to just blink like crazy (from the LEDs) and does nothing. This is once again not a true product issue, but a personal method we had to learn. Also, if the Quad starts drifting abnormally in flight where the trim isn't helping (and wind is not the issue), just land it, turn both it and the controller off, then turn them back on and re-sync it again. It took us a bit of time to figure that out, but it is not so difficult with practice. This is a product issue that more expensive Quads usually don't have, but for the price, it really isn't an issue.Special Safety Notes:1) PLEASE fly responsibly. Even though this Quad is an inexpensive "toy," its blades can cut you our injury spectators.2) Keep all spectators at a safe distance.3) Only fly this in an open area. Since this product is so light, the higher you go, the more the wind picks up and carries it away. Therefore, make sure you have enough space to account for that incase it is not powerful enough to deal with it. For example, we have a few large fields with neighboring tree lines. During one particular flight, when the Quad flew above the tree line height, the winds increased drastically. So much that in 5 seconds the quad drifted 500 yards in the opposite direct we were flying it with the controls peaked. This is important to consider since we had very little wind in the field region itself. It was only when we reach higher altitudes when the winds picked up (in that particular case). Therefore, if we had not had enough land to safety bring it down, it might have crashed. If you were not flying in a safe region and the same thing happened, you too might have crashed and/or injured someone if the reception was ever lost (via distance).4) Anyone new to flying should not fly this indoors nor at any extreme heights until you learn how to fly it fluently. Once again, directionality becomes and issue since it is painted one white tone and since it is so symmetrical. As such, unless the lighting is dim enough to see the LEDs, it might prove difficult for a newbie to know what direction they are flying before it becomes too late.5) Before Flying The Quad to maximum heights and in ruff conditions, you should always break-in any R/C motors. I do not know if they already do this in the factory prior to delivery for this model, but a safe bet is to spend one battery spinning the propellers at slower speeds to break-in the motors. It is too simple of a process not to do if it means not burning out your motors on their initial flight.6) Have Fun, just be smart doing it.Conclusion:This product is worth every penny and was able to re-spark an elderly man's old passion for R/C aviation. I fully recommend this product to any R/C hobbits, both veterans to the hobby and/or newbies, who have the common sense to fly this safely and responsibly. It is truly a blast to fly.I've included 3 photos to present the camera's quality: One of a deer in a field during the onset of dusk, and 2 just above the same field's tree line during the day.I hope this review helps.

The media could not be loaded. I am not really sure what some of the reviewers here expect from a $60 quadcopter, but this thing is really one of the best deals out there. Remember, you are buying a $60 TOY, not a professional/commercial grade drone that delivers super clear, super stable HD video designed for your 50" TV. That being said, I feel that it delivers more than $60 worth of features.This is my first "drone", so that is my point of view. I did own one of those small helicopters though. The quadcopter handles 10 times better than that though.Most notably, the little copters seem to be nearly unflyable if there is even the slightest breeze. The X5C, on the other hand, seems to fly relatively well, even if there is a small breeze. Obviously you need to compensate for the wind, but it still can be used. You definitely should be careful though if you fly it high and there is some wind. It can get caught in a gust and start getting away from you. Furthermore, when it is that high up, you can lose track of its orientation and this can make it difficult to correct its course. Someone mentioned putting your phone number on it in case it does get away from you. I will be doing that before my next flight...just in case.One of the CONS of the X5C is the lack of a RETURN or HOME button that brings the copter back if it starts getting away. That being said, only a couple times has mine gotten further away than I was comfortable with. Both times I immediately cut power and just let it fall to the ground. Once it landed safely in a neighbors yard. Once in a tree. I had to get the football out and knock it free. The copter is light enough that even when it free falls, it doesn't pick up a ton of speed. This allows for safer "crash" landings.That brings me to the next point. While the blade protectors do a good job protecting the blades and absorbing some of the impact from crashing, they will also get caught in branches a lot easier. And please note that you (or your kid or dad or your buddy) WILL get this caught in a tree at least once, if you are flying anywhere near them. So bear that in mind when selecting a flight area. Until you become really adept at controlling the X5C, I would recommend an open field of some sort. I would also keep it within 20 feet of the ground until you get the hang of it. If you are near trees, make sure you have a football or similar object you can use to dislodge the copter if it becomes stuck in a tree. Alternately, a trained monkey can be used to retrieve your copter from a tree (if you have access to one).I am actually quite impressed by the durability of this little thing. It has been crashed by myself and other operators dozens and dozens of times. The only damage has been one of the blade protectors has cracked. I am ordering spares now, before it completely breaks off. I highly recommend spending the $7 to order the spare part set on line. You will likely need them somewhere along the line. $7 is cheap insurance and allows you the piece of mind that you already have the spare parts if something does break, and you don't have to end your fun on that day.I would also suggest spare batteries and a charger. 7 minutes of flight goes pretty quick, and the recharge is NOT quick. I bought a 6 pack of batteries and a 6-way charger. This gives me and any companions an hour of flight time, perhaps more if the first battery has recharged by the time the last goes dead.Another reviewer mentioned marking the "front" of the quad so you can identify it from the ground. This is an excellent idea. I spray painted the front two blade protectors red. It definitely helps me to know which way the quad is oriented. And that is key to successfully flying the X5C.I do like the two different optional controller modes. I prefer to have "rotate" on the same stick as my "forward/reverse", rather than having "strafe right/left" on the "forward/reverse" stick. This controller has the option for either setup. Perhaps if I was videoing a moving object it may be more usable in the opposite mode? Furthermore, the controller also has two different speed modes. The standard mode is definitely responsive and quick, but there is also an expert mode for even more responsiveness and speed. I haven't really found the need for the expert mode yet.As for the camera, this is a $60 drone. How much of that do you think goes into the camera? For $60 you shouldn't set your expectations too high. You will get relatively clear video and photos, just don't expect it to look like something you would see on TV. TV shows spend A LOT more on their drones. With this quad, you will get a nice look at your neighborhood and all of your neighbors backyards. You will get a nice video of yourself flying the quad or videos of people you are flying the X5C into. Please be aware though that the camera is fixed and it points pretty much to the front. It does have some downward projection, but it is more forwards than down. When videoing anything you will pick up the sound of the quad buzzing more than anything. The sound is all but useless. The video will likely be a little shaky as when you rock the X5C when controlling it, you will also be rocking the camera. When you fly forwards you will get more of a downward shot, but when you "brake" or fly backwards you will get the sky. When you flip (using the flip button on the controller), you will not be able to make out much of anything. It is nice that you can snap pics and turn the video ON/Off from your controller.All in all, this is an awesome $60 drone! It is a great investment for hours of fun.I am really curious as to what would make the UDI 818A selling for double the price worth the extra dough. From what I can tell, the only missing feature (other than the HOME button) would be the HEADLESS MODE / Intelligent Orientation Control (IOC) System which allows for simpler navigation (orientation of copter doesn't matter). I am not sure that feature is worth another $60. With a little practice, this thing is easy enough to fly without that feature. Furthermore, from the reviews I read, there seems to be more complaints about the UDI 818A being affected by wind than the X5C.If you are thinking about a quadcopter in the $50-$150 range, I highly recommend this one!Note: The X5C is light enough that it does not require registration with the FAA.I attached a video I took with it shortly after learning to fly it. It gives a good example of the video you will get. Not sure how much Amazon distorts the video.