Little Tikes - My First Flyer

This toy is perfect for any little aviator!!I saw mixed reviews, so I decided to write my own also.We've had the flyer for over a month. My 2 & 1/2 year old son LOVES this helicopter. My son was afraid of my husband's drone, but loves this helicopter toy!!As a parent, I have enjoyed the ease of use and durability.Pros: durable, easy to flyThe remote has 4 control buttons... start up/go higher up button, down/lower landing button, right turn button, and a stop button. The stop button shuts the helicopter's propeller off. We used this when the helicopter was headed for a house plant or our dog.For as many crashes as this helicopter has endured, it has been a durable toy. When we first got the toy, I thought the propeller design was flimsy and would not hold up to a toddler's type of play. Surprisingly, it has though.Recommendations say to fly this toy inside. We have flown it both outside and inside. It has hit walls, floors, dirt, and pavement. It has only broken once. I superglued the propeller back together and it has flown fine since.Cons:One thing I do not like is the paint has scratched off in places on the helicopter's body.I also do not like the teeny, tiny ON/OFF switch located on the helicopter. It is frustratingly hard to see, especially when charging the batteries.I wrote "On/Off" using a Sharpie to help with this flaw.Overall, I give four stars for this toy, but only because of the On/Off switch nuisance.

I had very high hopes for this toy, as did my son. I am disappointed to say the least. The simplified controls honestly make it harder, because it only responds to the controls 50% of the time and at VERY close range. If you are more than 2-3 feet away from the copter, it will not respond to the land or turn around commands and just keep flying wherever it wants to, until it hits a wall.Fortunately the plastic seems to be very crash-resistant and flexible. Expect a LOT of crashes, even from experienced adults operating it, because as I said, it does not really respond to the controls on a regular basis. We played with it a lot on Christmas morning, but after a few days, the novelty wore off for my 4 year old, because he felt that he wasn't actually controlling it.As soon as the battery begins to wear down, you will lose control of this and it will no longer take off in flight. It has two modes essentially: Fully charged and therefore fully functional, or less than 75% battery and therefore a complete wild card and no guarantees if it will even take off, let alone respond to the RC commands.I would return it if I thought that maybe just mine was defective, but I think that they are probably all like this. A hurried attempt at a kid-friendly "drone." I'll keep in touch for the next model.

This would be a 5-star except for...more later. Great remote control helicopter for kids as 4-yr old grandson w/typical short attention span and less than perfect fine motor skills could easily fly it. Yes, only 4 buttons to push and no ability to truly "fly" helicopter around would be a detractor for older children, but he easily learned button for takeoff, rotate so that it would go in direction it was pointing, and then controlled landing made it a lot of fun for him. The ring around outside of blades made it very safe as well. Okay, durability is the downfall as after 7 days of flying it (except when it was re-charging) it flipped on it's side while landing and the tiny piece of plastic holding the even smaller screw that attaches the safety ring to tip of helo blades broke off and made it non-flyable. The screw permits the blade to rotate slightly so no "super glue" fix capability. Just printed labels for return so if all goes well I'll get my money back and purchase another one.

I see a wide variety in people's reviews, so I'd like to share my own experience. My kids are ages 3 and 5. I have a few other small indoor helicopters geared for big kids/adults (Syma brand), which are too hard for my kids to operate. When I saw the Little Tikes, I thought it was worth a try.Charging time and battery life - It's pretty typical to my other helicopters if not better. The Little Tikes requires 30-40 minutes of charging for about 10 minutes of flight time according to the manual. By contrast, my Syma helicoptor specifications state 50-60 minutes of charge time for 6-8 minutes of flight time. Other reviews have been critical of the flight & charge times, but they are completely normal for this type of toy.Flight controls - The remote has 4 buttons: Takeoff, Land, turn, emergency stop. Press "takeoff" once and the helicopter will begin its takeoff sequence by making helicopter sounds, spinning up the rotors, and automatically ascending to 4-6 feet altitude. It has a slight forward motion to it, and it is easy to fly from room to room. If it flies over an obstacle, it will adjust altitude to maintain it's 4-6 foot height over the ground/obstacle. The "land" button will begin the landing sequence by sounding an alarm and lowering itself to the ground for a soft landing. The only real control you have in flight is the "turn" button, which will rotate the helicopter to the right for as long as you hold the button down. Your helicopter will descend slightly while turning since you are giving up some lift in order to turn, so it's best to turn in small amounts and let your copter recover any lost altitude. The "emergency stop" button will simply kill power and let the copter fall to the ground in the event you are about to hit something/someone. On that note, the rotors also have rotor guards on them to offer some protection from collision both for the copter and the thing it hits. It's possible to bump into the wall and keep flying, whereas a "normal" helicopter would instantly go out of control and crash.Flying it - The kids prefer to let me fly it and chase them back and forth across the room. As mentioned above, it moves forward pretty slowly but steadily. We all really enjoy playing with it. Since the controls are so simple, you can hold the controller in one hand and hold a drink/snack/tv remote in the other.About me, I'm a lifelong aviation enthusiast, licensed pilot for over 15 years, and kid at heart. The Little Tikes My First Flyer performed better than I had expected it to based on the reviews I read, and I give it 5 stars. It does cost a bit more than my other helicopters and I debated taking 1 star away for that, but the Little Tikes offers some features the other ones don't, namely the automatic takeoff & altitude adjustment and automatic landing.

love this... read some awful reviews but bought it as my 5 yr old asked for it for his 6th birthday, even my big kids 9/11, love it doesn't damage walls when it crashes and its brilliant, easy to fly and flies brilliantly, its been crashed on a tile floor several times and still in one piece so not sure how some have got broke as ours seems really robust compared to the drone they smashed before end of xmas holidays put in ikea batteries and they are still going strong

I have only used it once, cool little toy, the instructions are not clear, so here are some tips.A) to charge helicopter it must be off, and the controller must be ON, green light on helicoper comes, on, goes off when charged. If its not taking off, charge it.B) after take off (top left), you need to control it almost immediatly with top right, or it will just have too much power and it will be out of control, it hovers itself, so once you get the hang of it its very easy to controlC) start with a palm/hand take offIm not sure how long it will last, but im an engineer, and will take it apart and rebuild if i have to as my son will love it =P

Brought this toy for my sons 3rd Birthday as he wanted a flying toy. Iv had awful experience with flying toys with my eldest but trusted little tykes as their toys are usually solid and sturdy. When it arrived I was disappointed to see it was as small and flimsy as the cheap versions like the sort of toys you pick up for a tenner at the market. and it doesn’t fly it hovers which means it comes back down in a matter of seconds. Played with it for 2 mins to check it was working before my son could even have a go and it landed on a soft fluffy rug and i can’t get it to fly anymore. Leaving it to charge over night to see if it’s the problem but fuming I got brought into buying a load of crap again.

It looks a fab item and it was when it worked. It broke the day it was opened. For some reason the helipcopter would not lift. We’re educated people so we tried all the things to make it work. As it was brought early for Christmas we missed been able to return it. Big disappointment.

Really disappointed in this, brought for Christmas as my 4 year old son has wanted it for ages he was delighted on Christmas morning but by midday on his second play with it the propeller broke! He was truly gutted. We carefully tried to glue it back together however it did not work. A total waste of money and a very sad little boy