Syma Forum

Upon reviewing the Syma site, yeah, I think the regular S107, which has been in production for at least 3 years, is finally being phased out for the s5, 1cm longer S36, and 3cm longer S8. The S5 looks to me like it's the true successor to the s107--retaining nearly identical size specs nose canopy and IR control, while the s36 is 1cm longer, 5mm wider and 5mm taller, and true radio controlled. The S8 only says RC, and shows an IR remote, but it is slightly larger by 4cm longer, 16mm wider, 21mm taller, but includes the ability to swap batteries on the fly!

Now, the S5 to me looks, again, like it will be the bread-and-butter S107g replacement, being that it appears to be a re-named S107 with updated frame, decals and gearing, nothing more. The s36g looks like the next move up from the s107 into the realm of true Radio Control, which will do better with interference, and give a much longer range to... an indoor helicopter. Yeah, ok, I don't get the added range thing either. That's more pointless than a broken pencil. The S8 allows for swapping batteries, and it is significantly larger, but is still an indoor only heli, which means that you're more prone to crash, and the added weight mean you don't get the same flight time per battery.

There's also some new quads, which look like they're built to compete with the big boys now. I forget the one, but there's one quite large one Supernova has, and Syma has one on their page that at least looks VERY similar in the x5c. There is no info on it yet, other than it shows an "HD" camera, and an ipad viewing the "real time" footage from the quad. I wonder if this mean that Syma is stepping up, and producing a new FPV quad, possibly with motion control for an ipad/ipod or other tablet/smart phone. If it's cheap enough, and if you don't need to have a smartphone or tablet for it, I may have to look into it for some fun stuff.