2006-12-21T11:32:00.000-08:00

The moment I heard about the awesome concept of indoor helicopters I was sold and so I went to the one place any geek with a craving for toys would go to : thinkgeek.com.
(or maybe that's just me)

Yesssir. It's the full function Dragonfly indoor R/C Helicopter with 'onmi directional flight', precision control and an apparently unique "co-axial rotors counter-rotate".

GREAT ! I'll take one.

Helicopter 1

It flew... shortly. After careful examination it turned out the product was damaged and was impossible to fly in a stable manner. Packed it up and send it back to thinkgeek who promptly send me a new one.

Helicopter 2

It never even left the fuzzy carpet floor. Box it. Send it back. Got a new one blazin' fast.

Helicopter 3

By the third try I was pretty desperate to fly the damn thing. Just imagine the endless possibilities: indoor helicopter races, tiny camera attachments to fly around the corner while sitting at my computer, ... The third helicopter did fly. It never was close to what was advertised as stable flight but it worked so I was happy.

Unfortunately one night as I was charging my helicopter, which was parked on my wacom tablet (graphire2), it decided to spontaneously combust. All this happened while we were all downstairs watching a movie. Fire alarms went off, people panicked and a smoke filled room was the result.

My wife was the one who found the fire and put it out instantly. If it wasn't for her I think my computer would've been toast. Amazing what such a small fire can do. Good thing there were no curtains around.

The helicopter obviously was a total loss. The only thing that was left was a molten puddle which conveniently melted through the top layer of the wacom tablet. I decided to plug in the tablet again to see if it still functioned which it did. All I can say is congratulations to Wacom for making such awesome products. I actually emailed them the story:

Dear Wacom

[first part cut out]

About a week ago I purchased a small indoor helicopter toy
to fly around with. It was plugged in for charging on my desk
on top of my Wacom tablet.
I proceeded to go downstairs to watch a movie. Halfway through
the movie the fire alarm went off and my wife found the helicopter
ablaze and melted through the surface of my tablet.

Though I can't use it in its present state, the tablet still works !!
It's amazing how sturdy this thing is. Congratulations on making
great products ! I hope to be able to purchase a new one once
I have the necessary funds.

Thank you.

reply from Wacom:

Dear Didier –

We enjoyed your story concerning the Graphire pen tablet’s secondary occupation as a helicopter launching pad. Good stuff! We may have to use your story one of these days if we ever decide to run an ad or public relations campaign on the durability of Wacom products. In the meantime, please send me your shipping address and phone number as we would be delighted to send you a new Graphire4. Thanks Didier!

Regards,

While all this was going on I received an email from thinkgeek stating that they were recalling all helicopters as they were deemed quite hazardous. The option was given for a replacement helicopter of a new model or a refund. I opted for the refund.

I'd like to say that thinkgeek took care of things very professionally. Every replacement I received was super fast and the service they offered after the product recall was great. Heck I'd buy anything from their website at any time. (when money is plentiful of course... lol) It's awesome to see companies with such great attitudes. Thank you !

my new tablet :)
Thank you Wacom. You rock !

One Fried Helicopter