Electric RC Helicopters More Fun Right Out of the Box

If you’re thinking about getting into RC helicopters, you have two basic choices when it comes to the aircraft itself. Should it be electric, or should it be powered by gas?

Electric RC helicopters are especially popular with beginners because they tend to be easier to fly. You have to admit, RC flying isn’t very fun when you spend all of your time crashing. And, there’s always the possibility you’ll damage your new toy.  With an electric helicopter, there are fewer channels to control. As a beginner, you don’t want to be overwhelmed with controlling too many aspects of your model’s operation.

Electric helicopters are powered by a rechargeable battery. They are usually less expensive than a gas-powered RC helicopter. For one thing, recharging the battery is cheaper compared to filling up the tank with gas for every flight. The initial purchase price is also much less for electric helicopters.

Electric copters are also quieter than gas-powered models. This could be an important point depending on where you want to fly your RC helicopter. The constant buzz of a gas-powered model could be really irritating to your neighbors if you intend to fly close to homes or apartments. The almost non-existent noise of an electric RC helicopter actually would allow you to even fly them indoors.

Electric RC helicopters are smaller than their gas-powered cousins. So not only are they easier to transport from place to place, there are a lot more options on where you can fly them. If you have a decent-sized backyard, you can probably enjoy playing with an electric helicopter. But gas-powered choppers are going to need a significant amount of space.

One of the main reasons I enjoy playing with RC models is they are fun. And for me, maintenance is definitely not fun. If you like maintaining, tweaking and tinkering with small engines, then by all means you should go for a gas RC helicopter. But electric helicopters require almost no maintenance or tuning, and provide maximum fun right out of the box.