DEERC F16 Thunderbirds RC Plane,3CH Remote Control Airplane Fighter Toys,2.4GHz 6-axis Gyro Stabilizer RTF Glider Aircraft Plane with 2 Batteries,Easy to Fly for Beginners Kids AdultsGlobal Recycled StandardGlobal Recycled StandardGlobal Recycled Standard

This is my third DeeRC plane, and it's by far my favorite. As an adult rookie RC pilot, I still crash into things periodically, and I find the foam planes to be incredibly durable. This plane has a very soft silicone nose especially to absorb unexpected frontal impacts. I have landed this in trees, in the water, smoothly, and roughly - it just keeps coming back for more, and never shows sign of damage.This plane is slightly larger than my prior planes, and the larger body has a bigger battery compartment, which makes it easier to get the battery in and out. It's a subtle thing, but tighter battery compartments can sometimes be annoying to load up. The wing lights look very cool at dusk, and actually help you to better see the plane's orientation. I noticed on this one that DeeRC has refined their design a bit with both the wires and the lights slightly recessed in the wing. It's a very clean look.I find the hand launch to be my preference over using the landing gear, and since (excepting crashes!) I always touch down in soft grass. I chose not to install the landing gear. That has made for less things to stick when I end up in a tree, and the gear doesn't snag on the grass.The gyro is good and bad; It sometimes creates some unexpected motions or overcompensates. This isn't bad when you have plenty of clearance, but if you time a maneuver with specific expectations and the gyro kicks in and does something different it may cause a momentary stress on the pilot. The good side is that does a great job of stabilizing the plane. You definitely want to fly this only when there's no wind because the gyro isn't enough to compensate if the breeze kicks up; It's a very light plane.This plane has excellent working elevators on the tail. The gyro will stop you from doing a roll unless you press the stunt button, but I love how much more control it gives on landings. I can drop the throttle way back, raise the elevators, and the plane drops smoothly until its close enough to just cut the throttle and set down. I think it's also a great trainer for more advanced planes without a gyro, as you can accelerate your turns with it.Battery life is excellent. I get around 20 minutes per battery, which is plenty of concentration time for me. They charge fully in 45-60 minutes using the included USB charger.This is a great looking, durable, and incredibly fun to fly plane that I believe provides an experience far beyond its price. If you're interested in RC planes, and as a beginner want something to learn on without worrying about damage, don't hesitate.

This is a great entry-level RC plane, with one notable quirk keeping it from being outright fantastic.I really like the design of this plane, but when the Viper is the inspiration, it's hard to go wrong. It looks great in the air. The foam is sturdy but lightweight and the soft silicone nose won't ever be damaged by a frontal impact. I was hoping to continue storing the plane in its box, which you cannot do if you glue the tail fin into place, so I flew it without glue. The tail fin stayed in place during the entire duration of my flying session.The controls are both good and bad. The good part is that they are simple. On the controller, you have two sticks to work with. The controller's left stick controls throttle and is notched so you can easily set it at a certain amount and leave it. The right stick controls the plane's attitude. Down for nose up, up for nose down, left for turn left and right for turn right. These controls map to three input channels, one for each propeller and one for the elevator flap. This configuration, combined with a seemingly twitchy gyro, makes for less-than-precise overall control. Nudging the right stick either left or right seems to give the respective propeller a pre-defined amount of throttle in a sort of surge. It seems like there might be a slight delay too. In practice, the plane still turns, but it feels a bit disconnected from what you're actually telling it to do. Another quirk I experienced was when I pressed the right stick fully up to initiate a dive. The plane takes a staircase-type path downward: dive, level out due to gyro panic, dive again, level out, dive.... Weird. I think these controls are ideal for a beginner pilot to be able to get airborne with a minimal learning curve. An experienced flyer will be left wanting more precise control.A few other notes: Battery life is great, and it comes with two for extended run time. Fly in a wide open area with no wind. This plane will quickly run out of room at your neighborhood park.For the list price, this plane seems like a good value. At the discounted price (about 35% off) that I currently see at time of writing, this plane is an incredible value. I would definitely recommend it at either price if you want to dip your toes into RC flying. If it were permanently priced at the discounted price, I would give it 5 stars, even considering the questionable controls.