Estes Proto X Nano R/C Quadcopter, Red

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Brand Estes
Model Name Proto X Nano R
Age Range (Description) Adult
Color Red
Included Components remote_control
Item Weight 200 Grams
Battery Capacity 100 Milliamp Hours
Material Plastic
Wireless Communication Technology Radio Frequency
Battery Cell Composition Lithium Polymer

About this item

  • Flies easily in any open indoor area.
  • Lights add to the fun when flying in the dark.
  • 2.4GHz controller links only to your aircraft, so multiple aircraft can fly together.
  • The triple-axis, three-accelerometer gyro features an Auto-Upright system for self-correcting flight
  • Recharge quickly with the included USB charge cord.

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Customer reviews

3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5 out of 5
90 global ratings

Customers say

Customers like the quality and ease of flying of the unmanned aerial vehicle. For example, they say it's a great quadcopter and fun to fly. That said, some complain about the battery life and control issues. Opinions are mixed on durability, ease of use, performance, and size.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

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QualityEase of flyingDurabilityEase of usePerformanceSizeBattery lifeControl
22 customers mention "Quality"18 positive4 negative

Customers like the quality of the unmanned aerial vehicle. They say it's a great buy, a good micro drone, and a perfect starter unit. Some customers also mention that it'll be the best toy ever.

"...Just hard enough to fly to be fun, really inexpensive, and seems pretty durable...." Read more

"...The Proto-X makes nice, neat little flips, and doesn't seem to lose a lot of altitude afterwards. Close enough for me!..." Read more

"...I liked this proto x drone because its a great started drone ready to fly and easy to use." Read more

"Great stability and flyability at a superb price...." Read more

19 customers mention "Ease of flying"19 positive0 negative

Customers find the unmanned aerial vehicle easy to fly. They say it's entertaining and fun for any age. Some say it’s durable and a big hit with kids.

"...Just hard enough to fly to be fun, really inexpensive, and seems pretty durable...." Read more

"...and responsive and once to get used to the controls can be very entertaining to fly...." Read more

"It is a fun toy, but the controls aren't as good as some of the other micro drones. There is a lot of drift which can lead to over correcting...." Read more

"These fly good, but this style airframe is very fragile. The airframe consists of a single circuit board...." Read more

36 customers mention "Durability"19 positive17 negative

Customers are mixed about the durability of the unmanned aerial vehicle. Some mention it seems durable, stable, and resistant to several shocks. However, others say that it's fragile and breaks easily.

"...Be prepared for thing to break. The quad is surprisingly resilient for how often I have flown it into walls, ceilings, or let it drop to the ground..." Read more

"...complaints although one guy crashed his from 30 feet or so and broke the motor mounts...." Read more

"...Build quality thus far has been very good...." Read more

"...easy to fly and control. You can fly in interiors.- Resist several shocks. I smashed against the floor and it continues flying.-..." Read more

26 customers mention "Ease of use"16 positive10 negative

Customers are mixed about the ease of use of the unmanned aerial vehicle. Some mention that it's easy to fly and control, and is agile and responsive. However, others say that it is difficult to fly for beginners, and takes some learned coordination to fly.

"...Out of the package it charged fairly easily and connected to the controller quickly when following the provided instructions...." Read more

"...For one thing, this means that the airspeed and responsiveness increases, and for another you can do flips the "real" way, by slamming the right..." Read more

"...It does take some learned coordination to fly, and does not fly well in windy conditions. Its also not dog proof!..." Read more

"...This being said, the little remote does offer some very precise control with very linear movement so I am pleased by that...." Read more

11 customers mention "Performance"4 positive7 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the performance of the unmanned aerial vehicle. Some say that it works well, while others say that one of the motors has quit working.

"Edit: after 3 days, one of the motors already died... it was working fine but after the next charge one of the back motors was completely dead...." Read more

"...While on the topic of flight, I it does very well all in all. Under "easy" it flies very smoothly and is very easy to trim and hover around...." Read more

"...This one, my third, has been babied. Alas, one of the motors has quit working. No matter how many times I reset the gyros or tweak the connections...." Read more

"...The new one operates perfectly! My son says, "It's awesome! The best copter purchased yet!", and we have tried many." Read more

7 customers mention "Size"4 positive3 negative

Customers are mixed about the size of the unmanned aerial vehicle. Some mention that it's very small, which is much of the cool factor of the copter, and the controller is small, but easy to handle. However, others say that they are small and easy to lose.

"...The controller is small also, but easy to handle. This is a great starter unit. Its light weight keeps it from destroying everything in the house...." Read more

"...Get a case to hold all of your pieces. They are small and easy to lose.- Be prepared for thing to break...." Read more

"...Perfect for small indoor areas. Awesome product." Read more

"Tiny and easy to maneuver. Great buy" Read more

9 customers mention "Battery life"0 positive9 negative

Customers are dissatisfied with the battery life of the unmanned aerial vehicle. They mention that the charge only lasts 10 minutes, and the drone is very fragile. The charge time can be long, and it would not last five minutes with a child.

"...Only two downsides are that the battery life is a little short at 5-10 minutes of flight time, and it takes about half an hour to charge...." Read more

"...hours of funCons- charge time can be long and cannot get additional batteries-..." Read more

"...Cons:- as any small drone the battery life is short. You can only fly for a few minutes-..." Read more

"...Battery life is short only 3-4 mins. Haven't broke any blades (yet)." Read more

7 customers mention "Control"0 positive7 negative

Customers find the control of the unmanned aerial vehicle difficult to use. They say the controls are small and sensitivity makes it difficult to keep under control. Some customers also mention that the flight constantly drifts to one side or the other.

"...tight indoor spaces, that speed and sensitivity make it impossible to keep under control...." Read more

"It is a fun toy, but the controls aren't as good as some of the other micro drones. There is a lot of drift which can lead to over correcting...." Read more

"...has the proto z which is a little bit bigger but it is sooooo much harder to control!!..." Read more

"...It is small, so control takes some used to...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

Andrew Balk
5.0 out of 5 stars Best $30 I ever spent.
Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2015
Verified Purchase
I probably couldn't write enough good things about this little helicopter. Just hard enough to fly to be fun, really inexpensive, and seems pretty durable. I flew mine into a water dish, a full glass of wine, and into the wall countless times and it still works just fine. Only two downsides are that the battery life is a little short at 5-10 minutes of flight time, and it takes about half an hour to charge. After I got one for a gift and one for myself I ended up buying 10 more for other friends, as I can't imagine anyone *not* liking this. So far nobody I got one for has had any complaints although one guy crashed his from 30 feet or so and broke the motor mounts. Don't fly it outside until you're really good at flying it, and then only when the wind is dead calm.
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Anson Morris
4.0 out of 5 stars Great Quad for pilots of all experience levels!
Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2016
Verified Purchase
This is an amazing product but definitely has some durability issues. I purchased this quadcopter as a novice pilot and was excited to see what it could do. Out of the package it charged fairly easily and connected to the controller quickly when following the provided instructions. First flight I managed to smash it into every ceiling and wall available and bent a couple of the rotors. Flight time was is 7-10 minutes on a full charge so I bent the rotors back into place and was back in business. The quad is extremely quick and responsive and once to get used to the controls can be very entertaining to fly. I have had so much fun with this thing I have convinced a half dozen of my friends to get one and have bought a few as gifts as well.

Pros:
- multiple control response levels for pilots of different skill levels
- Decent battery life
- led lights are great at night
- hours of fun

Cons
- charge time can be long and cannot get additional batteries
- rotors bend and break easily causing less responsive flights
- wiring on motors detach for soldering easily and require some skill and a soldering iron to repair.

After flying this for a year, I can still honesty say it is well worth the price. A couple suggestions:
-order replacement rotors from the original manufacturer. They pop off or break extremely easily and are constantly lost. Aftermarket rotors are far cheaper but do not perform or fit very well.
- Get a case to hold all of your pieces. They are small and easy to lose.
- Be prepared for thing to break. The quad is surprisingly resilient for how often I have flown it into walls, ceilings, or let it drop to the ground from 80'+ in the air. That said, things will break.

Once again, great product and I would definitely recommend it to others.
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Kevin
2.0 out of 5 stars Really fun to mess around with in the office
Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2015
Verified Purchase
Edit: after 3 days, one of the motors already died... it was working fine but after the next charge one of the back motors was completely dead. Already had to toss it... It was fun for a bit, but it's no longer worth the money if it dies that fast...

Really fun to mess around with in the office. It is fairly loud and sounds like a swarm of mosquitoes, so if your office requires silence you probably shouldn't bring it... My main complaint is that the blades chip insanely easily. After like a few times of flying they are almost all chipped but they only give you 2 spares. It's 5 bucks for a whole new set. Oh, and the blades pop off all the time which can be annoying. Still though, buy one of these before you buy something like a Phantom. It takes a while to be able to control it properly.
2 people found this helpful
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Kyle
1.0 out of 5 stars Good fun, had a lemon though.
Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2015
Verified Purchase
This is my third drone. The first one took a hard landing from my young pilot (3 year old), my second was accidentally trampled by a grandpa's boot. This one, my third, has been babied. Alas, one of the motors has quit working. No matter how many times I reset the gyros or tweak the connections. I really enjoy these little guys, and I won't quit on this one, yet. Maybe I'm not troubleshooting accurately. I feel bad for this rating, cause they are good units, but I wasn't happy for the ONE WEEK I got out of this last one.
I'd recommend them, but don't get attached to them ;)
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Voyn238
5.0 out of 5 stars A few quick thoughts - more to come later.
Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2014
Verified Purchase
I'm about 3 weeks into my love affair with quadcopters so I'm clearly not an expert, but I think I've been picking it up pretty quickly. My first quad was the  Hubsan H107D , since my intent is to eventually get into FPV flying. I've also got a Dromida Ominus mid-sized quad and the  Syma X12  nano quad. I had read a lot about the Proto-X but decided to go with the X12 due to the size of the Proto-X's controller - it's TINY... like, 3.5" wide tiny. Holding it, I feel like Andre the Giant trying to play Xbox. The X12 has a much bigger controller, in fact it seems to be trying to the mimic the size and design of an actual Xbox controller (which at the time seemed to me like a good idea). The other reason I liked the X12 controller was that it had dual rates and a flip button while the Proto-X controller doesn't. Nice features to have, so I went with the X12. Well, turns out the X12 has horrible yaw rates (meaning when you try to spin it clockwise/counter-clockwise, it's incredibly slow). I timed it at about 7-8 seconds per revolution, compared to the H107D's 3 seconds. Big difference! Yaw is not the only control you need to manipulate to turn properly, but it makes it a lot more tricky.

Anyways, I found out later that the Proto-X uses the same control scheme as the Hubsan quads. I couldn't find any info on whether it was compatible with the H107D controller or not, but I'm here to say that it actually is. In fact, I haven't yet flown it with the original Estes controller. Flying the Proto-X with the Hubsan controller feels very natural, and the quad responds very nicely. There is no flip button on the H107D controller, but there is a dual rate switch and the Proto-X does indeed change its flight behavior in response to it. For one thing, this means that the airspeed and responsiveness increases, and for another you can do flips the "real" way, by slamming the right stick one way and then the opposite. The Proto-X makes nice, neat little flips, and doesn't seem to lose a lot of altitude afterwards. Close enough for me! Obviously the video screen on the controller stays blank, but you actually get an unexpected bonus - real-time battery voltage readings from the Proto-X. Neat! Oh yeah, and the yaw rates are on par with the H107D - turning this thing is a lot more manageable than the X12. This is using the Hubsan controller, so I'll come back and update this review as to whether it still turns that fast with the Estes controller.

Another thing I found, because I like to tinker with stuff, is that the blades from the Syma X12 actually fit on the motor shafts of the Proto-X (but - and this is very important - the rotation of the blades is reversed between the two quads, so you have to swap the props around to match). The Proto-X props are 1 3/16" wide, and the X12's are 1 5/16" and have noticeably more surface area. That doesn't sound like a lot, but considering the scale of these things, it's quite a bit of difference. The only catch is that the Syma blades will not work unless you remove the Proto-X's canopy. The battery is held on with double stick tape, so you won't really lose anything except aesthetics and a slight amount of crash protection. Honestly, I think it looks better without it. I haven't yet experimented enough to say what impact these larger blades have on flight performance and battery life, but I'll do a few comparisons and update here.

Needless to say, this is the nano quad I *should* have bought instead of the X12. Oh well, live and learn I guess. I'm going to store this in the  H107D's carrying case  so I can get a little "over-caffeinated electric bumblebee" action in between FPV flights. Looking forward to only lugging around one controller for both!

And yes, before you ask, these really are "a few quick thoughts" - my reviews usually are much longer ;)
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Top reviews from other countries

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Client d'Amazon
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in Canada on May 30, 2017
Verified Purchase
Je les reçu avec une lumière brise je suis déçu mais le drone fonctionne parfaitement j'adore!
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Olivier R.
1.0 out of 5 stars Got stuck at the Border, Canadian side, never made it to its destination
Reviewed in Canada on November 15, 2018
Verified Purchase
Never had a chance to play with it, it is stuck in the administrative labyrinth of US/Canada border administration since June 2015.

Cautionary tell: if you want your parcel consider paying more than $2 for the shipping fees ...
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Ryan
3.0 out of 5 stars Good
Reviewed in Canada on February 10, 2015
Verified Purchase
Awesome little quad to fly fast and stable but the flips are kind of slow so I rate it a 3 star
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