Toy Review: The Revell Argus RC Helicopter

I have always been fascinated with helicopters, it amazes me how they stay up in the air, and Remote controlled ones seem to be popular these days, gone are the days of rubber band powered ones or expensive petrol driven models that are more like the real thing.

With advances in technology everyone can get their hands on a RC helicopter for the right price and there are many out there to choose from Revel the German manufacture of RC models and kits recently sent me out one of their RC helicopters to review and here is how I got on…

The Revell Argus RC Helicopter with camera is an entry level 3 channel ready to fly 2.4ghz model that is fairly big to look at (295mm) and isn`t the easiest thing to get to grips with.

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Build wise it’s a pretty solid item with a metal chassis, comes with a built in video and stills camera operated from the control unit, images are stored on a mini SD card, the card can be removed and played back on your PC/tablet either via an SD slot or with the USB card reader supplied, it’s a novel idea but my main priority was trying to keep it in the air.

Now anyone who tells you flying one of these helicopters is easy obviously hasn`t tried one, because I spent a fair bit of time crashing, and then having to take the thing apart because the rotor cogs kept falling out and it’s the fiddliest job in the world putting them back.

Eventually after what seemed like an eternity of messing around, my copter was ready to fly yet again, the controls are relatively simple left stick upwards for power (thrust) right stick for direction with a trim button and video/ camera controls.

The first thing to note with these kind of RC toys is don`t fly it in your living room unless you have plenty of space, and also be aware that it does make a bit of noise and those blades spin at an incredible rate so keep fido and the kids at a distance.

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Ok so after a fair bit of time crashing and repairing I managed to get it to fly, and its pretty good at manoeuvring just don`t take your eye off it though because it will end in tears.

The helicopter is rechargeable and you get 7 minutes flight time for a 90 minute charge, not a great deal of flying time I must admit, the control unit takes 4 AA batteries, a spare set of rotor blades are also included and with the amount of crashes I had to start with you are going to need them.

The range is around 50 meters and you can get some serious height out of it just beware of any breezes.

You can fly this outside in calm conditions but again be aware that its best to keep it away from people and animals as the blades are quite sharp and rotate at some speed.

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This helicopter is recommended for 15 years upwards and I agree as it’s a complex machine and not easy to fly.

Camera images are not too bad for the size yet you won`t get much video unless you buy a bigger SD card as this one is only 1GB, even so for such a small camera quality is good enough

Summary

The Revell Argus RC Helicopter is a good entry level RC helicopter and works well when you get to grips with it, not recommended for flying in the house though as it is fairly large and can be difficult to control, the camera is a nice touch but a bit of a novelty really.

The build quality is good yet the long charging time and short flight time are disappointing, this is not the kind of thing I would recommend to anyone under the age of 15 as its quiet complex and younger users would bore easily with the short flight time and difficult learning curve.

The Revell Argus RC Helicopter

Coaxial rotor system with tail rotor

with gyroscope to stabilize the flight

LED headlights

1x 3,7 V LiPo flight battery rechargeable

Under the chassis-mounted camera with micro SD memory card

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3-CH 2G4 controller (forward, backward, left turn, right turn upward, downward) with trim

function

Charging via included USB cable

Controller with 4 x 1.5 V AA batteries - not included!

Charging time: about 90 min / Flight time: 5-7 minutes

Range: about 50 meters included replacement parts: the two upper and lower main rotor and tail

Price: £70.00

Usability: 3/5

Build Quality: 4/5

Value for Money: 3/5

Overall: 3/5