I’ll admit, the first time I was able to pilot a $30 RC toy helicopter inside my home I was quite impressed. Unfortunately it didn’t take long for the novelty to wear off, and neither wacky designs nor improved avionics have piqued my interest since then. But a built-in digital video camera? Air Hogs, you have my rapt attention again. Their new Hawk Eye RC chopper, which is due sometime in the Fall for about $65, is able to capture around 5 minutes of 320×240 resolution video, or hundreds of photos at 640×480. Useless for those of you hoping to use it for 2nd unit aerial photography on your low-budget blockbuster, but good enough for the rest of us who want to capture the annoyed reactions of visiting family and friends.
The Hawk Eye can also be connected directly to your PC for transferring the videos, and while you’re doing that the helicopter also charges, so you can kill two birds with one stone and be back in the air in no time. It also comes with a 2-channel remote of course, letting you control altitude and spin the chopper left or right, and start/stop the video recording or snap photos.
According to Milhouse: “Perfectly level flying is the supreme challenge of the scale model pilot.” But after you’ve mastered those skills, how do you keep your RC hobby interesting? Well by spying of course! And this lightweight aerial camera from Chinavasion looks like the perfect a highly affordable tool for the job. The camera with mounting bracket weighs just 27 grams, so it shouldn’t affect your plane’s performance or flight time that much, but with a price tag of around $48 just don’t expect to be capturing IMAX caliber footage.
Video is recorded at 640×480 at 25 frames per second, and on a single charge the camera will run continuously for about an hour and a half. Still photos have a bit more resolution at 1280 x 960, and while the lens can be rotated up to 70 degrees, it’s not controlled by a servo so you’ll have to make your adjustments while on the ground. You’ve got 2GBs of built-in memory to play with which should be more than adequate for your average flight, and the camera’s also got a mini-USB port on one end for offloading your videos and photos to a PC.
You can find tiny RC versions of Mario, Luigi and Yoshi in the toy aisles pretty much anywhere these days, but there’s a reason you’ll want to hold off and order these new Tomy versions from Amazon Japan instead. You see these versions feature LED lights and infrared sensors, and just like in the Mario Kart video games, you’ll periodically get power-ups or weapons, like the green shells, invincibility and bananas, which are indicated on the remote control.
The killer red shell and pain-in-the-ass blue shell are notably absent, but the other items provide speed bursts, or thanks to the infrared sensors, allow you to shoot and slow or hinder an opponent. The remote even has a built-in speaker and hopefully plays that awesome ‘invincibility’ tune (that’s now hard-wired into my brain) whenever you use a star. They’ll be available in Japan from June 19th for about $30 (¥2,730) each.
Sorry for the double videos in this post, but they’re both integral to getting the idea across as to how awesome this RC battleship really is. Both clips were apparently shot at the Model Submarine Regatta in Canberra, Australia in 2008, and they show a scale model remote control battleship dropping working depth charges, as in actually exploding underwater, onto a remote control submarine traveling just a few feet below it. The video below appears to be the same run but from an underwater perspective, and if the cameraman’s startled reaction is any indication, those mini charges really pack a punch.
The videos also confirm my theory that if another world war breaks out using only remote controlled scale model warships, the Australians have already won.
You’d think a commercial that featured a 1/10th scale RC model of the car they were trying to sell would be about 1/10th as exciting as seeing the real thing, but Nissan Canada’s new spot for the Sentra SE-R proves that theory very wrong. In fact I’d rather watch this highly-detailed RC model tear around a neighborhood, drifting through corners and blasting through piles of leaves, than the full-sized version racing down an empty highway. The use of a 1/10th scale camera car and an RC helicopter for aerial shots is also a nice touch.
The ad was created for Nissan Canada by TBWA\Toronto who were kind enough to film a behind-the-scenes look at how the commercial was made, which you’ll find for your viewing pleasure after the jump.
There’s a certain appeal to building sand castles, but nobody visits the beach to work! So the next time you head out for a little sun and sand, I suggest bringing along this remote control excavator for doing all the hard work. The EC280MG is a 1:14.5 scale version of a real excavator produced by Despe in Italy, but don’t let its size deceive you, this is one impressive RC toy.
Made from CNC cut steel the EC280MG weighs in at around 62 pounds, is powered by 6 motors running off of 4 x 7.2V Ni-MH rechargeable batteries and even features a powder coat paint job. While not very exciting, the video I’ve included below does show how strong the excavator really is, but with a price tag of $4,500, not including the required 8-channel proportional remote, it better be more capable than your average plastic RC construction toy!
Even though I’m well past the age where I should be wandering around a Toys R’ Us without kids in tow, I find the stuff being revealed at Toy Fair to be just as cool as the gear unveiled at CES. Mattel’s ‘Stealth Rides’ for example, which will be sold under the Hot Wheels brand, are fully functioning RC cars that fold down to a credit card sized package that’s about as thick as your average cellphone, making them extremely pocket-friendly.
They’ll be available in August for about $25 each in 5 different models including a couple of cars, a couple of tanks and the Tumbler from the recent Batman movies. And while usually these types of miniature RC cars that charge in the remote last for just a few minutes between charges, apparently the Stealth Rides will run for an impressive 30 minutes.
In addition to bring a damn fine phone, the iPhone always seemed to me like it would make a half-decent universal remote as well, with its large touchscreen display and accessory-friendly dock connector. But oddly enough it’s taken this long for a 3rd party to create an IR remote add-on, though I guess the wait was worth it. The L5 Remote doesn’t add much bulk to the iPhone, it just hangs off the bottom, though the placement of the iPhone’s dock connector does mean you’ll have to use it upside down when controlling your entertainment center.
The accompanying app, which unfortunately is still awaiting approval in the App Store, is pretty robust too. It supports learning functionality, and since the iPhone is graced with a fast processor capturing commands from your other remotes is very fast according to their rep. The button layout is also completely configurable, with little sliding areas to hide buttons like numeric layouts that you aren’t necessarily using all the time. In fact the only downside I can see is that since using the remote requires the iPhone’s display to be on all the time (the IR dongle just sips power, and isn’t much of a drain) it will be the first remote you have to charge every night. The L5 should be available sometime in February, pending approval of their app of course, for about $40 I believe.
If ergonomics and comfort just aren’t your thing, then I highly recommend considering the Cool.con the next time you’re looking for a new TV remote. It’s got an easy to use button layout, but the real appeal is the half-sphere underside which is covered in small metal spikes. In all seriousness I think it’s supposed to be some kind of pressure-point thing to do who knows what while you’re watching TV, but there’s a good chance it will also serve to discourage someone from snatching the remote away from you and trying to change the channel. About $13 from the FunShop.
Related Tags: Remote Control, Toys, Video Cameras
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