INTRODUCTION

   Women like to think that all men regardless of age always remain children deep inside and they just might be on to something since we all enjoy playing our favorite game titles alone, with our friends and perhaps more times with unknown people from around the globe (even if they are not right however who am i to argue especially when something works in my favor?). Remote controlled cars used to be amongst my favorite hobbies around 10 years ago (i still own a Mugen 2hp 1/20 RC car) but due to the fact that there aren't that many certified tracks where i live (the nearest one is like 60km away) i lost interest. Then i turned to RC helicopters but since the really good ones were quite large and also needed fuel to run i soon realized that once again i needed to operate them in specific places which were quite far as well (the law doesn't allow people using them on rooftops unfortunately). Such limitations however don't apply for all the small Bluetooth RC Helicopters that have flooded the market lately and one of those is the iConheli by Sandberg which has been in our hands for a full month of testing both indoors and outdoors.

   Sandberg stands for quality and user-friendliness. If it is important for you that accessories are high quality and easy to figure out how to use, then choose Sandberg. Our ideology "IT is for everybody" is part of everything we do. Since its inception in 1985, private consumers, institutions and companies have benefited from this simple philosophy. Distributors and dealers appreciate the availability, range, simple procedures and the exceptionally low failure rate. Every year over half a million Sandberg products find their way to users in more than 30 countries. Choosing Sandberg means choosing a safe and conscientious product that meets all applicable regulatory requirements. A product manufactured by subcontractors who are committed to following Sandberg's Code of Conduct to ensure decent working conditions and reduce the environmental impact of the production and waste disposal.

   The iConheli by Sandberg is very similar (both in design and size) to the countless Bluetooth RC Helicopters available in the market, or at least that's the very first impression you get once you see it. Specs-wise the iConheli doesn't really stand out from the crowd since it just offers a 10m control range and features a rather small 160mAh Li-Polymer battery capable of keeping it in the air for just slightly over 7 minutes. What the iConheli excels at is durability thanks to its many flexible/foldable parts so even after taking it out and crash landing it several times it's still able to take off and aside a few scratches on the black canopy it flies just like it did when we first took it out of the box. However unlike most Bluetooth RC Helicopters the iConheli is only compatible with iOS devices like the iPad, iPod Touch and the iPhone and that did not really sit well with us (especially with me since i don't own any Apple devices). So time to take a closer and thorough look at the iConheli by Sandberg to see what it has to offer.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

As an Apple only compatible device the iConheli was shipped inside a white box with a product picture at the top.

The compatible devices are listed at the front of the box.

At the rear of the box we see the specifications and contents lists right beneath a few words about the iConheli in 6 languages.

The RC helicopter is safely placed inside a formed piece of plastic while the rest of the bundle sits right above it inside a second cardboard box.

The bundle contains the iConheli RC Helicopter, USB charging cable, user guide, two extra tail blades and two connecting poles.

THE ICONHELI

The iConheli from Sandberg may not exactly be AirWolf material but its design is very sleek. Size-wise the iConheli is 19cm long, 11cm tall and 4.5cm thick with a weight of 43g.

The product name, manufacturing factory and a warning message (i enjoy reading such warning messages) are printed on the main rotor blades.

Unlike real helicopters the tail blades are also used to move the iConheli forward and backwards.

The landing skids are made out of durable plastic and are also quite tall so most of the times you should have little problem landing the iConheli safely. The iConheli also has a total of 3 LEDs (on/off via software), one over each skid (these flash blue/red) and one beneath the nose (white).

You can find the power on/off switch at the belly of the unit.

The 160mAh Li-Polymer battery is recharged via the rear charging port.

IOS CONTROL SOFTWARE

First of all you need to download the control software from the App Store (search for Huang Jun Sheng). The control software is very easy to use so first you get a screen asking which type of control you prefer (motion controlled via the internal gyroscope or by using the touch screen).

If you decide to use the normal touch functionality (like we did) you will use 3 things mostly, the movement pad placed on the left (forward/backwards/left/right), the vertical bar placed on the right (throttle control) and finally the TRIM control (used to correct balance issues). We will eventually upload our own clip on YouTube (once we find the time to actually take it someplace with lots of space around) but at least for now feel free to check the YouTube clip made by our friends over at Sandberg.

CONCLUSION

   Small, good looking, agile, easy to use, durable and quite fast the Sandberg iConheli may actually be the ideal RC "toy" for indoor use however it's far from perfect. First of all the 10m range makes it extremely hard to use outdoors without having to worry about losing control while the 160mAh battery is not nearly enough to what i'd personally like. Now i do realize that the iConheli is targeted towards kids (mostly) so a small battery shouldn't be an issue for indoor use but there's yet another problem with that since not many kids actually own iPhone, iPad or iPods (actually none does from all the kids i know). So basically it makes little sense for any manufacturer to focus solely on iOS enabled devices when android enabled ones cost much less and are more widely used. After talking with our friends from Sandberg it seems that they are well aware of this so they will probably expand their line of products to include android compatible ones. Also as you can see from the above picture since the OEM manufacturer that builds the iConheli also has a white version available i wouldn't rule out the possibility that Sandberg may eventually include it in their product catalog.

   Currently the Sandberg iConheli is only available inside the EU for a price tag of 55Euros (Purchase Directly from Amazon.co.uk) which is quite reasonable for what it offers. USA residents however have the option to purchase the iConheli directly from the manufacturer (Woddon) for a price tag of USD45.89 (Purchase Directly from Amazon.com) which is even lower and even more appealing. Certainly you can find many cheaper solutions in the market that may actually be more suitable for use by kids (Apple devices don't come cheap after all) but leaving that aside the iConheli delivers a very good bang for your buck and that's why it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Durability
- Design
- Size
- Control Software (2 Modes)
- Price (For Some)  

CONS

- Range (Only 10m)
- Battery Life (160mAh/7 minutes)