Aviation has been a love of mine since I was a very little person. Living in Nevada, seeing posters and ads for the Reno Air Races, specifically the Texans, transfixed me. I was hooked.
As a teenager, I got an RC glider and dabbled in RC gliders and planes until my early 20’s. Later in my 30’s I flew RC Slope Soaring gliders and had a great time, as you can see in the photo on the left, where I was slope soaring a glider over Reno.
But there was always something that I wanted.
Miniature, Electric, Indestructible
Even as a teenager, I wanted a simple, light RC glider that I could take anywhere and fly. In the early 90’s, electric motors were not common because motors were not powerful, the batteries capacities were extremely low for their weight, and they were also quite expensive. Servos were huge, or very expensive. But with the miniaturization of technology that’s been ongoing the last 20 years, and the battery technology of the last 10-15 years specifically, much of it due to our smart phones, things have changed dramatically, and a lot of the technology has transferred directly into RC airplanes.
And because of those advancements, my dream airplane was just waiting for me on Amazon. It’s light, small, has a powerful electric motor, cheap and light batteries, and even a simple USB charging system. And the plane itself is cheap at just $99 or so. Here it is:
For just $99ish for the airplane, $100 or less for a transmitter, and about $30 in batteries and charger, you’re in the air. Although I haven’t flown in quite a number of years, it came right back to me an by the end of the first flying session I was catching the glider mid-air instead of landing it!
Two small batteries lasted about 45 minutes of climbing, gliding, climbing, gliding, etc. I bought the DX6i transmitter, now discontinued, from a fellow on Facebook Marketplace for just $70, so I saved some money there. But the newer ones have telemetry, which is a neat feature and so I’ve listed that below:
205mah 3.7v 1S battery (I bought two)
Transmitter Choices:
I bought a used one, and this is probably going to be the cheapest route. You need a Spectrum transmitter. Here are the new options:
HobbyZone MLP6DSM 6-Channel Safe Transmitter: Cheapest, lower quality
Spektrum DXS Transmitter: Simple, cheap, better quality
Spectrum DX6e Transmitter Best, and if you think you might get more models and really go flying a lot, a good option.
This isn’t a full featured review post of course, and I don’t know that I’ll ever do one. But if you’ve wondered about these little planes, they are awesome and my inner 14 year old geeks out every time I look at it, so I just had to share!
