The new iBird comes from the same makers as our favourite R/C microcopters, but this time takes a leaf from Mother Nature’s design book. Controlled with the same kind of infrared remote and charging system as the Picoo Z’s, the flapping wonder is supposed to look and fly like a real bird. Real, hey? I’d say really cybernetic, but what the heck: check out its “realistic flapping motion” in the video.
newVideoPlayer("Chinook1.flv", 475, 376,"");My new Tandem Z1 Chinook finally arrived. And guess what? Two rotors and proper six-way control actually does equal twice the crashes. At least while starting out, anyway— just like a real helicopter these things are a bugger to learn to control. Balancing throttle, forward, backwards, turning and the trimming controls felt like it needed about three extra hands. So, I had crashes. A lot. But, eventually, I got the hang of it, as the video shows.
Picoo Z has just doubled the fun of R/C mini helicopters with the Tandem Z Chinook. Yes, two rotors, just like the real thing, for twice the number of high-speed crashes into walls, twice the chased-by-your-cat action. Its also got a three-channel remote control now, so you can try forward-backward moves properly—remember how tricky the original Pico Z was to fly with only up-down and left-right? Available for around US$79. [Geek Alerts]
Remember those sweet laser-tag type R/C choppers we showed you a few months ago, the ones that fulfilled at least two of Adam’s childhood fantasies? Today, I saw them, or well, something ridiculously identical, both in and out of the box. That’s right, PicooZ is coming out with a $80 duelin’ chopper set called Sky Challenger, and it’ll be on Firebox.com within the next four weeks (though it’s not up yet). Looks like Christmas will come early for Mr. Frucci! [Firebox.com]
