Swann has trio of new RC helicopters

When it comes to remote controlled helicopters, you cannot really go wrong with a name like Swann backing such an endeavor. After all, this company has had ample experience in the past, rolling out decent RC helicopters, and they now have a trio of new additions with two of those sporting on-board wireless video cameras, while the other will be able to “talk” to an iPhone, iPod and iPad. Both the Sky Eye and Black Swann will allow you to record your flights as either videos, or you can also snap still photos with but a single touch of a button. Needless to say, these images and videos can be retrieved only after you land the helicopter and transfer it to a PC via USB.
Something tells me that with this new, albeit rather obvious, spying capability, your neighbor who loves sunbathing in the nude might just think twice before going out in his/her birthday suit. Let us take a look at the three RC helicopters in greater detail after the jump.

All of Swann’s helicopters will rely on the Easy-Fly Gyro Technology, where trim adjustment has been made for added stability, while the dual joystick controls on the infrared remote control paves the way for 6-way multi-directional flying – and those include up/down, forward/backward, left and right turns. Each helicopter will run on a lithium ion battery which can be juiced up thanks to a cable that is located in the remote control itself, or you can always opt to take the USB cable and PC route. As for the IR remote control, it will be juiced by half a dozen AA batteries, so I would strongly recommend getting rechargeables in the long run. Perfect for indoor flying, taking it outdoors might prove to be rather tricky considering the nature of the wind.
The i-Fly Micro Lightning will be the one that plays nice with iOS-powered devices, where you will use the app’s push button controls, or opt to enter ‘tilt’ mode in order to control the movement of the helicopter simply by tilting the iDevice. It is capable of flying for up to 8 minutes with each full charge, clearly exercising the law of diminishing returns. Expect to fork out $69.99 for this puppy.
As for the Sky Eye that was designed after a RC military helicopter, it can shoot videos and still photos, storing them on the built-in 512MB memory. With a powerful 27MHz radio frequency, it is capable of flying within a 110-foot radius, and will retail for $99.99. Last but not least is the Black Swann RC stealth helicopter that does the same as the Sky Eye, but has far superior storage capabilities thanks to a microSD memory card slot. It will cost the same as the Sky eye.