After thinking about calling the hobby store in Lethbridge where I got the Litehawk, I decided to look around here to see what I could get locally or online. I found a lot of helicopters online with a very similar design to the Litehawk. After reading a lot of reviews, I found one by Syma called the S107 that got good reviews. I ordered one from Amazon for $20 (including shipping and handling (because I'm an amazon prime member)).
The Syma S107 is very similar to the Litehawk. In fact, I think it uses the same gyro system. It uses the same configuration as the Litehawk (two main props, stabilizer, and horizontally oriented tail prop), which I came to find out is common to most 3-channel rc helis. It flies pretty much the same, and for about the same amount of time. But, the quality on the Litehawk is a little better. For instance, when I crash the Litehawk, the tail rotor doesn't fall off resulting in a 10 minute search of the perimeter. The USB charging cable is cheap, with a non-standard connector on the helicopter end. The remote is crap. It has a spring-loaded power stick, which I always feel like I'm fighting against. The channel switch shows three selections (a, b, and c), but it only switches between two, and frequently gets stuck. Overall, for $20, I'm pretty impressed.
There's a hobby store close by with an expert RC helicopter enthusiast working there. He's been flying helis for over 30 years, so I asked him about the 3-channel helis compared to the more expensive helis like Blade (http://www.bladehelis.com). He recommended I look at the Blade mCX2 RTF (http://www.bladehelis.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdId=EFLH2400) as the closest comparison to the Litehawk and the Syma.
The first big difference is that the Blade mCX2 is not a 3-channel helicopter. It doesn't have a tail rotor. All the control is handled through the two main blades. If I remember right, the expert told me this is a 5-channel helicopter. Because of that, it's much better as a beginning helicopter since all higher-end rc helis are 5 channel. He likened it to learning how to ride a bike, then moving up to a motorbike, a racer, etc… Flying the Syma and the Litehawk will give you an idea how to think while flying a helicopter (spacial awareness, and flight path manipulation) but is like learning to ride a tricycle and then trying to drive a motorbike. Once you move to the 5-channel helis, you have to re-learn how to fly.
The Blade mCX2 is also about $100 more expensive than the Syma at $119 (sale price). So, I think for now, I'll keep practicing with the 3-channel helis and then move to the 5-channel Blade mCX2.
