Power system
Battery: 300mah single cell Li-Po

This is a lightweight, fixed pitch, flybarless helicopter. It comes with its own transmitter which has two identical centre-sprung sticks. At first I first thought that this was just a cheap arrangement to simplify changing transmitter modes and that having a centre-sprung throttle would feel very strange. However, this helicopter also features an altitude-holding system as part of its stabilisation electronics.

In practice, this altitude hold feature in conjunction with the centre sprung stick works well. The recommended takeoff procedure is to leave the sticks alone and press button A! You then watch the helicopter spool up, take off, and ascend to about 1.5m. You are now in a hover, with the throttle at mid stick. From here, flying proceeds pretty normally.

However, my first flight was in the lounge so, mindful of the pendant light directly overhead, I didn't feel like putting my faith in the above automated system, so opted for a manual takeoff. For this, the sticks are moved to the bottom outer corners. After an acknowledging bleep from the transmitter, the sticks are centred, and the helicopter spools up but doesn't take off until the throttle stick is advanced beyond the centre postion. Once the desired aaltitude is reached, the throttle is centred and the altitude hold kicks in. Very clever.

At the time of writing, we have no indoor flying sessions in prospect because of Covid-19 restrictions but I did take the Ninja out into the garden for a brief flight and it seems to handle very well - rather like a slightly bigger V911 - so I look forward to enjoying it more when circumstances permit.