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FLYTECH™ BLADESTAR
This is a long page with at least 22 images on it; dial-up users please allow for plenty of load time.
You have no chance to survive make your time.

FlyTech™ Bladestar, retail $49.99 (www.amazon.com...)
Manufactured by WowWee (www.wowwee.com/)
Last updated 11-20-11

(In reference to the package I received from Amazon.com at 4:33pm PDT on 06-13-08):
{sung like the Foreigner song "Feels Like the First Time"}
Feels like a flaaaaaash-liiiight...feels like a FLAAAA-aaaash-liiiight!!!
Feels like a flaaaaaash-liiiight...feels like a FL

BREAK IN 24577
READY.
CONT

?OUT OF DATA ERROR IN 49152
READY.

Let's try that again...as soon as I saw the address on the package, I *knew* it wasn't a flashlight...

CONT

?CAN'T CONTINUE ERROR
READY.
LIST

10 POKE53280,14:POKE53281,14:POKE646,.:PRINT CHR$(147);
20840 READ A$
24576 PRINT A$
24577 PRINT A$
40960 END
49152 DATA "{b}Feels like a flaaaaaash-liiiight...feels like a {i}FLAAAA-aaaash-{/i}liiiight!!!{/b}"

READY.
49152 DTTA "{b}Feels like an aaaaaiiiiirrrrcrrrrraffffttt...feels like an {i}AAAAAIRRRRCRAAAFFFTTT{/i}{/b}"
RUN

?SYNTAX ERROR IN 49152
READY.
49152 DATA "{b}Feels like an aaaaaiiiiirrrrcrrrrraffffttt...feels like an {i}AAAAAIRRRRCRAAAFFFTTT{/i}{/b}"
RUN

Feels like an aaaaaiiiiirrrrcrrrrraffffttt...feels like an AAAAAIRRRRCRAAAFFFTTT
Feels like a aaaaaiiiiirrrrcrrrrraffffttt...feels like an AAAAAIRRRRCRAAAFFFTTT

READY.

This isn't a flashlight, household lamp, Christmas light set, or other thing that glows, but it *DOES* have a flashing LED in it, so what the hey. I have only evaluated remote controlled (RC) toys several times before, so please bear with me here.

I love things that fly; that's why I took the bate (I saw advertisements for it on television at least a month prior!) and also why I added a seperate section titled "PRODUCTS DESIGNED TO FLY" to my website.

This is a lightweight, easy-to-fly remote controlled flying machine - it operates much like a helicopter but it is really different at the same time. It is designed specifically to be flown indoors. It has a semi-autonomous flying mode where it can "automagically" avoid light-colored obstacles like walls & ceilings.

SIZE

This toy is remarkably easy to use for a helicopter-like R/C aircraft...here's how to get it off the ground:

As with any rechargeable product, charge it first (see directly below), assemble it (you just need to affix the two main rotor blades), and then you can fly this toy.

1: On the side of the Bladestar's body, there's a small on/off switch.
Use a fingernail to slide this switch to the left (to the "on" position).
A yellow LED will begin flashing inside the "core" near this switch.

2: Place the Bladestar on a flat surface in the middle of a large room, orienting it so that the taller & narrower end faces up and the switch/flashing yellow LED face away from you.

3: Turn the remote control on (there's a slide switch on the side of the remote that faces you when holding it as you would when flying), point it at the Bladestar, push forward on the left-hand stick, pull it back, and then push up on the left hand stick a second time. As soon as the blades begin to turn, press & release one of the "directional" buttons (left or right) on the right side (upper surface) of the remote control to set it in a semi-autonomous mode where the product *AUTOMATICALLY* avoids obstacles like walls and ceilings with a sensor built into it.

4: The Bladestar should now lift off the ground. Congratulations, you're now a pilot!!!

For additional instructions & tips on how to fly, please read the instructional material that comes with the product.
There is also a full R/C mode available where you can fly (or crash!) the product however you wish.

Turn the Bladestar and the remote off when finished using them.
Same switches as before, but slide them in the opposite direction this time.

To store the Bladestar in its included hinge-lidded, snap-closed hard-sided case, remove the main blades, and place the Bladestar, the blades, and the remote in the case in the same location they were in when you removed them.
Here, let's show you with a photograph...snap...click...and it's off to the Fotomat we go:

This is how the Bladestar itself, its blades (the spares are underneath), and its remote fit into this case.
That black & white dome is the "dogfighting accessory" that allows two people to fly their Bladestars in aerial combat.

The interior of the case has a number of "pins" and other protrusions and a compartment; these are designed to hold the Bladestar, the remote, the Bladestar's main rotor blades (plus the spare blades) and the "dogfighting accessory" stable even if the case is jostled around or otherwise manhandled.

The battery in the Bladestar itself is rechargeable and is not designed to be changed; however the batteries in the remote will need to be changed from time to time.
The procedure for charging the battery in the Bladestar itself is explained below the battery changing instructions for the remote control.

To change the batteries in the remote, use a small phillips screwdriver to unscrew the screw holding the battery door on. After just a few turns, the door should lift away rather easily. At this point, very gently place it on the floor, use your foot to slide it out the door (front door, back door, patio door, etc.), and very firmly kick it into the garden so the hungry, hungry praying mantids will think it's something yummy to eat and strike at it...O WAIT!!! YOU'LL NEED THAT!!! So just set it aside instead.

Remove the used AA cells from the compartment, and dispose of or recycle them as you see fit.

Install six new AA cells into the compartment, orienting them so that their flat-ends (-) negatives face the springs for them in each chamber.

Place the battery door back on and screw in that screw you removed earlier.
Aren't you glad you didn't kick that battery door into the garden with all those hungry, hungry praying mantids now?

Here is what a praying mantis looks like.
I found this guy on the morning of 09-08-06 clinging to the basket of my scooter.

To charge the battery in the Bladestar, on the front of the remote control's body (as the remote control is facing forward and the controls are facing up toward the ceiling), look for the right-hand "dome" sticking out the front (there are two: one on the left and one on the right). Unscrew it a bit until it comes off; you'll see a cord with a small plug on the end of it.

With the Bladestar turned off, ***GENTLY*** plug this into the receptacle for it on the side of the Bladestar's body; orienting it so that the angled portion of the plug is aiming down.

Slide the remote control's switch to the "charge" position; a series of green lights should now turn on and cycle from bottom to top. When the green light at the uppermost position blinks by itself (advertised at 20 minutes from a nearly-fully discharged battery), gently unplug the cord from the Bladestar, turn the remote control off, and stow the charging cord back into the compartment in the remote control for it.

This R/C aircraft is meant to be used as a toy indoors, not as a flashlight meant to be carried around, thrashed, trashed, and abused, so I won't try to drown it in the toliet tank, bash it against a steel rod or against the concrete floor of a patio, let my housemate's citty kats

go to the litterbox on it, run over it with a 450lb Celebrity motorised wheelchair, stomp on it, use a large claw hammer in order to smash it open to check it for candiosity, fire it from the cannoñata, drop it down the top of Mt. Erupto (I guess I've been watching the TV program "Viva Piñata" too much again

- candiosity is usually checked with a laser-type device on a platform with a large readout (located at Piñata Central), with a handheld wand that Langston Lickatoad uses, or with a pack-of-cards-sized device that Fergy Fudgehog uses; the cannoñata (also located at Piñata Central) is only used to shoot piñatas to piñata parties away from picturesque Piñata Island, and Mt. Erupto is an active volcano on Piñata Island), send it to the Daystrom Institute for additional analysis, or perform other indecencies on it that a flashlight might have to have performed on it. So this section of the web page will be ***SIGNIFICANTLY*** more bare than this section of the web page on a page about a flashlight.

The Bladestar is a lot easier to fly than it appears just by looking at it. In its semi-autonomous mode, you can just control the throttle, and it will automatically avoid light-colored obstacles like walls and ceilings; you can even place your hands or a sheet of white paper in front of it and it will automatically fly away from your hands or the paper.

Photograph of its remote control.

Photograph of the Bladestar in the air.

Spectrographic analysis of the LED in the Bladestar.

Spectrographic analysis of one of the yellow-green LEDs in the Bladestar's remote control.

USB2000 Spectrometer graciously donated by P.L.

This video shows it taking off from the floor, slowly rising to the ceiling, hovering
around the area for a bit, then gently (well, perhaps "not-so-gently"

) landing.

This clip is approximately 8.27 megabytes (8,337,838 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than forty minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.

That sound you might hear in this clip is the game show "Wheel of Fortune" on the boob tube.
This product is not sound-sensitive; the sound may be ignored or muted if desired.
The boxes seen in this video are because I'm packing for a move to occur approximately 4 weeks from today (06-14-08).

This is another video on YourTube showing the product flying.

In this video, you can hear me say "Entering sector zero point six" in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the coin-op arcade video game ''Star Trek'' {it's supposed to be Mr. Spock saying this}, then say "I mean...flight number six", in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the coin-op arcade video game ''Looping'', followed by the product taking off, buzzing around the room for a bit, and eventually crash-landing.

This clip is approximately 4.005645676822 megabytes (4,420,188 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than twenty minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.

Video clip on YopurTube showing it taking off from the floor, slowly rising to the ceiling, hovering
around the area for a bit, flying around for a bit, then landing on the dog.

That sound you might hear in this clip is the Bladestar's motor itself; occasionally punctuated by the dog panting.
This product is not sound-sensitive; the sound may be ignored or muted if desired.

This clip is approximately 7.87 megabytes (7,942,918 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than thirty eight minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.

WMP movie (.avi extension) showing the product flying in my room, then crashing on a bed.
This clip is approximately 3.3769 megabytes (3,700,974 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than seventeen minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.

This video on YourTube shows the LEDs on the remote sequencing to indicate that the battery charge cycle is in progress.

This clip is approximately 2.557234234950 megabytes (2,781,298 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than twelve minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.

This video on YourTube shows the FlyTech™ Bladestar flying in semi-autonomous mode. It does fly out of the frame on several occasions, but you can still hear the motors -- indicating the flight was still in progress. It very gently landed on the rug near the bed.

This clip is approximately 8.006347734727 megabytes (8,219,200 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than forty minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.

This is a concatenation (combination) of two short videos showing the FlyTech™ Bladestar flying in my room.

That music you may faintly hear in the first and third segments is from the computer demo "Panic" by Future Crew; and in the center segment is from the computer demo "Unreal by the same demo group. The Bladestar is not sound-sensitive; the audio may safely be ignored or even muted if it pisses you off.

This clip is approximately 3.335623437827 megabytes (3,557,243 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than seventeen minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.

This is a concatenation (combination) of four (two short; two a bit longer) videos on YourTube showing the FlyTech™ Bladestar flying in my room.

The included set of spare blades were used on the Bladestar for these flights.

That music you may faintly hear is the song "Stay Hard" by Raven, from the album Stay Hard from 1985. The Bladestar is not sound-sensitive; the audio may safely be ignored or even muted if it pisses you off.

This clip is approximately 3.115242347434 megabytes (3,299,607 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than fifteen minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.

I cannot provide any of these clips in other formats, so please do not ask.

TEST NOTES:
Test unit was ordered from www.amazon.com on the evening of 06-12-08, and was received on the afternoon of 06-13-08.
Yes, I received it less than 24 hours after ordering it!!!

Product was made in China. A product's country of origin really does matter to some people, which is why I published it on this web page.

UPDATE: 01-22-11
I had a dream a couple of nights ago that revolved around the Bladestar.
From my online Dream Diary, comes the following entry:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JAN 21, 2011
In the part of this dream that I remembered, I was in a fairly large room attempting to fly my FlyTech™ Bladestar; a remote-controlled helicopter-like vehicle. There were a number of other people around, but I did not recognise any of them. And I was having some difficulty in getting the Bladestar to function properly; it kept crashing even when set to its semi-automonous mode (it should not have crashed in the manner it was crashing to be more specific). I remember even hand-launching it at one point, but was not successful there either.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE: 11-20-11
I found that three of the AA cells went to pot (leaked) inside the remote; however, with only minor effort, I restored it to full functionality with a new set of AA cells.

MANUFACTURER: WowWee
PRODUCT TYPE: RC "helicoper-like" flying machine
LAMP TYPE: Yellow LED
No. OF LAMPS: 1
BEAM TYPE: N/A
SWITCH TYPE: Slide on/off on side of product
CASE MATERIAL: Plastic
BEZEL: N/A
BATTERY: 6xAA cells (remote), 3.7 volt Li-Poly rechargeable (Bladestar itself)
CURRENT CONSUMPTION: Unknown/unable to measure
WATER- AND URANATION-RESISTANT: Very light splatter-resistance at maximum
SUBMERSIBLE: NO WAY HOZAY!!!
ACCESSORIES: Two spare rotor blades, dogfight accessory, hard-sided carrying case
WARRANTY: 90 days

PRODUCT RATING:

FlyTech™ Bladestar * www.amazon.com...

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