Not too big and about £30. Any recommendations?

Get yourself onto the Menkind website or along to a shop. They have loads of great ones. I bought one last yr that they have updated the colours of, but it’s the same thing. Flies really well; I think the brand is Syma.

They do ones with built in cameras now with micro SD slots.

IMO anything around that price will be a big disappointment. They don’t have as many axis of movement as a proper chopper so it will be wicked for 10 mins, then you’ll get bored and never use it again. (from experience BTW)!

I was looking for the same thing earlier this year and I found heliguy website to be a fountain of sound information and advice. I wanted a four channel so if I was “any good” I would be able to upgrade to a larger helicopter later…I went for their self branded heliguy atom fp. Was only £40 and as a small 4 channel heli it is so stable and good to use I would gladly pay more for it.
I had had loads of the cheep £20 toy helicopters each Christmas for the past three years to only have a few big crashes and then to have to put the heli in the bin as I was unable to get any spears.
With this helicopter thought there are loads of spares available for when you crash and you have the option of buying extra parts at a discount if you do so when you buy the helicopter. I would strongly recommend buying an extra battery so you can charge one and use one, because if will be unable to put it down.

http://www.heliguy.com If you would like any more information then just post here and I will try to give more detail.
Cheers,
Mark.

Blade Scout CX… You can get them online for £30 these days, and are much much better than the normal supermarket specials for about the same price.

I’ve had a few Rc helis now (blade CPX, trex450, mini Titan) and I can say that although the Scout only has three channels its a lot of fun indoors.

Hmmm. I must be easily pleased. Mine gets regularly whizzed round the house & crashed into stuff but still keeps going. I bought some spare rotors for it, but haven’t needed them.

Worst crash was from the ceiling upstairs, all the way down to the hall below, via a bounce off one of the stairs neat the bottom. I thought it was gonna be only fit for the bin, but it was fine.

I would recommend expanding your budget to £40 and getting something like this:

Silverlit 4 Channel Helicopter

For £30 you only get 3 channels which are very limited in their movements. 4 Channel heli will give you full range of movements and bridges the gap between toy and hobby as its both.

I’ve had 3/4/6 Channel heli’s and the 3 channels ones are toys and if you have any skill you will get bored very quickly. Also if you then step up to 4 channels/hobby heli the controls are very different.

I wouldn’t touch silverlit with a barge pole. Anything they make is largely classed as disposable, ie a few crashes and then bin. Also, the are IR controlled. For £42 you can get a JPerkins mini twister sport 4ch that spares are a doddle to get and have a 2.4ghz tx.

Even thought I have recommended Silverlit, they are cheap but usually come with some spares. I would definately go for the JPerkins Mini Twister over Silverlit, I didn’t know you could get soo much for soo little!

cyclebiker – Member
I was unable to get any spears

Careful with those, you’ll have someone’s eye out.

Up your budget & get an E.flite blade MCX ready to fly kit.
Proper 4 channel control and great fun. great for learning the basics of control but not too fast. Generally bombproof but spares are readily available through model shops or online. Beware–VERY addictive!!

Heres a good guide of the different types. Almost all the cheap ones are the coaxial variety and the (lots) more expensive ones are the variable pitch.
http://2bfly.com/knowledgebase/flight-school/what-to-fly/helicopters/

Having tired and broken many of these I finally bought this its lasted a good few months and easy to get spare rotors and stuff.

Bit larger but can be used outside on a calm day.

http://www.modelzone.co.uk/radio-control-rc/rc-helicopters/intermediate-rc-helicopters/syma-3-channel-outdoor-rc-helicopter-flash.html

Thanks guys. Mini twister looks great. It’s more than I was hoping to spend (present) but will speak to mrs SB.

Just seen this:

http://sussex-model-centre.co.uk/shopexd.asp?id=42049

Helis are soooo last year. Quads are the new cool.

Pfft, quads are for amateurs – you want an Okto 😉

(might be slightly more than £30)

OP I have a £50 one I got from Groupon last year, used once otherwise BNIB if of interest?