Micro Helicopters at RadioShack

[Azimov]

I'm wondering if I shouldn't just return for refund instead of an exchange...$70 is a lot for something so iffy.

I visited the three Radio Shacks around here yesterday for Picoos. I only found one and it has the slight bobbing behavior that I've seen others post about. I think I read about a cure, so I'm gonna have to weed through those 40 pages or so on RCG to find it again.
While at the Rat Shaks I looked at the Bladerunners and mosquitos. The blade runner was a tad to big to suit me and the mosquito looked pretty good. I did notice on the mosquito that the two motors that operate the twin rotors meshed with two large gears that seemed to be misaligned to me. It may have been nothing, but it did cause me to pass on trying one.
EDIT: I just fixed the bobbing or "nodding" behavior others have posted about. Don't bother with the stabilizer. The cure is to put some tape on the end of the main rotor. Two layers of scotch tape about the size of a thumbnail did the trick beautifully. This copter was also one of the spin counter clockwise variety. Now that it doesn't nod anymore, it has great forward motion once trimmed. It flies better than my much more strable first PicooZ! It has only one aluminum sticker under the nose. But I don't think it even needs it now.

[Paul52]

Hi! My Micro Mosqeeto helicopter is dead, I ran it until the battery was discharged. Now when I try to charge it, it will not charge. The two lights on the front don,t light up now either. Oh well! I'll bring it back to Radio Shack and get a refund. The helicopter was not worth the $69.99 I spent for it. I never could get it to fly straght. One thing I can say it is made good. I crashed it alot and it did not break...

[Namuna]

Hmmm, might have to try that technique Az, my 2nd Picoo gets the "shakes" a lot so a stabilizing mod would be great.

As for the misaligned gears on the Mosquito...That's by design! There's 2 Rotor Gears (1 driving each rotor) and they're setup on top of each other at about 1/8" of an inch apart. The pinions on the motors HAVE TO be gapped at different heights in order to drive the rotor gears.

I exchanged the DOA mosquito and picked up another one. This one flies, so that's good.

I've also done the following mods (as prescribed by the designer, Petter, on the RCGroups forums)
- C15 resistor removal (for better Tx range)
- SW3 adjust (for more precise control of the rear rotor)
- Tx lift spring removal
- Using PicooZ rotor for the tail

With the menacing looks and micro size, I really wanted to like this bird...But the only thing I'm getting out of it is frustration.

1. The longest stretch of time I can get the tail to stay trimmed is a couple of seconds AT MOST! I can't even think about introducing FF (Forward Flight) into the mix because if I do and the tail isn't steady...Well, floor dive were we come.

2. The dual rotors NEVER stay in parallel rotation for more than a few seconds, and as soon as they start loosing that sync then the "toilet bowl flush" occurs and to the floor she goes.

3. Even the slightest mis-adjustment while flying can send the stability out of whack, and once it's out of whack regaining it is basically a lost cause and the best I can hope for is least harsh crash.

I know you can't compare the 2, but flying the PicooZ is just more appealing and fun to me because I can actually CONTROL the thing and even if it starts to go a little loopy, I can very reliably bring it back in line...If the MM could just maintain parallelism of the dual-rotors, it would be so much easier/better to fly.

At this point, I don't recommend the Mosquito.

[Azimov]

Yeah, I got that vibe from the thing. It just didn't seem worth the money to me.
But, the PicooZ is loads of fun. Yes, Namuna, try the bit of tape on the main rotor. It works wonders. My fiirst Picoo started getting shakes here and there from so many crashes I guess. So, I put some tape on the end of the rotor and it leveled right out and has great forward motion now. And this was a copter that had almost no forward motion at all. I had all three aluminum stickers on the front as well as one of the Zip heatsink screws. Now I have one aluminum sticker on there and nothing else.
I've found that if you can get a stable hover with slow forward movement, you can use the tail to swing around to stop and change direction. Of course, this works best in the battery sweet spot after a full, hot battery and before a weak one.
I recommend trying the tape even if the copter flies stable with very little to no forward motion. It added quite a bit to mine.

[Hoverdown3k]

heheh .. I was hoping to find out if the ZZ SE's are getting dumped or if they are coming out with new ones, and I see all this Helicopter talk....

Well I have had both the Picco Z and the MM and I like the Z better, I had more fun with that one...

I'm also into RC Helicopters Big time, you can see some of mine here!

http://www.runryder.com/helicopter/gallery/24728/

[CurtMiller]

I found a micro helicopter at the Houston Galleria. It uses infra-red light and works great, once you get the hang of it.
http://www.curtmiller.com