Really bad also...
Here is a rough guide to RC heli's, i'm abit of a newbie but this explains the differences VERY roughly...im sure people here who know much more.
There are several types of models on market ranging from toys that are barely flyable to fully controllable models.
*2 channel*
These are often infra red controlled and range from £7 up to about £50. These helis have fixed pitch blades and a single channel alters rotor speed allowing for up / down control. The second channel controls speed or tail rotor giving yaw left / right (tail movement)
IMO these helis are just pure toys just for messing around with and you often need to weight the front to get forward flight... you'll NEVER be fully in control of one. Most common is Picooz cloans.
*3 channel*
These helis seem quite new and use a third channel to get control of forward flight (about £30-£50)... some do this by having coaxial blades spinning opposite direction freeing up a horizontal rear prop to pitch heli forward or back. There is also a Picooz Atlas that tilts the rotors forward but having tried one of these they are not very good
*4 channel*
This is where the heli actually starts to behave like the real thing (about £50 - £150). 1 channel changes the speed of fixed pitch blades controlling height, 1 channel yaw controlling tail, 2 channels controlling cyclic (the angle of the rotor head) allowing left / right / forward / back control....
These fixed pitch 4 chan helis are the ideal way to train for larger more complex machines but even so can be difficult to master (you will crash them).
Lots of ways to start on one though, like training gear to help you with take offs and landings... and simulators to practice your stick control. I wouldn't start on anything less than 4 chan.
Down side of fixed pitch helis is they tend to pitch up in fast forward flight especially outside, and they are quite unstable as you are adjusting rotor speed to control height meaning you cyclic control can get vague at times. Plus side is they are sturdy and tend to survive crashes far better and if anything harder to control than a more stable collective pitch (CP) machine, so see you in good stead for more expensive machines.
*6 channel*
These helis are very similar to 4 channel machines except like a real full size heli have collective pitch blades (about £90 upwards, skys the limit on these). The actual rotor speed remains high and lift is controlled by changing the pitch of the main blades... this pitch is usually controlled by a pretty complex mixing system in your radio handset.
Often on these machines the tail rotor also uses pitch control....
These helis are super stable, and in the right hand FULLY aerobatic, by using a special mode called 'idle up' you can fly them inverted by reversing the pitch of the blades..
I wouldn't learn on one simply because 1 big crash and you'll be out of action...the rotor head is very complex and requires a lot of knowledge to get the machine flying well.. (i lightly crashed a BeltCP last week and it was down for the count with many bent / broken parts)
so summary
Toys (2 / 3 channel, just for messing around with)
Fixed Pitch or FP (4 channel, great way to start flying and a real challenge)
Collective Pitch or CP (6 channel heli for full 3D flight but not for beginners as complex)
One last thing, make sure you buy a heli with Lipo (lithium polymer) batts, these will give you up to about 10mins flying time between charging.. real cheap machines come with older style batts and are a complete waste of time. Also look out for the new 2.4GHz models that mean glitch free radio and no channel problems from other fliers.
