The Silverlit MX-1
The MX-1 re-establishes Silverlit’s position as the producer of the world’s smallest remote controlled helicopter. It’s small size enables it to be transported inside the combined controller/charger, creating a portable package that can be left in your bag, allowing for a quick flight when an opportunity arises.
The downside to this miniaturisation, is that the MX-1 is difficult to fly smoothly. It’s probably the least controllable helicopter that Silverlit produces.
Configuration
The MX-1 features the standard main and tail rotor arrangement shared by all the other helicopters we have reviewed so far. The on/off switch is on the starboard side and the charge connector is on the underside between the skids.
As the photos below show, the MX-1 is about 65% the size of the PicooZ.
Controller
To make the controller more transportable it uses sliders rather than sticks. This makes it reminiscent of the Palm-Z’s.
Behind a sliding panel is a storage compartment for the MX-1. This compartment contains the charging cable and with the charging socket on the underside of the MX-1, it allows the helicopter to be charged whilst in storage.
I have been carrying the unit around in my laptop bag now for 9 months now and it has held up really well. The only damage it has received is that some of the silver paint has worn of the corners.
Airspace
The manual recommends a room of about 3m x 5m x 2.5m, free from drafts, bright lights and strong sunshine.
Flying
When it comes to smooth flying the small size of the MX-1 works against you. Small adjustments to the controls have big effects, making it impossible to hover or maintain direction. The challenge of the MX-1 is not steering it around a course, but just keeping it within your flying space.
In the end I was most successful flying the MX-1 by trimming the tail rotor as best I could at an approximate hover and then controlling the direction of turn by climbing and descending. The addition of some Blue-Tak to the nose gave me some forward speed making it easier to stay away from the walls.
Another problem I found with my MX-1 was that it would suddenly drop out of the air. I thought this would probably stop once the battery had been cycled a few times, but it never really went away. In one case the tail rotor got tangled with some fibres, which ultimately caused me to replace the tail motor.
Modding the controller
In help maintain a constant hover I removed the spring from the main rotor slider on the controller. To do this I removed the four screws from the back of the controller and the fifth one from inside the battery compartment.
The two halves can then separated. Make sure you don’t lose the small pieces of felt that cover the switches.
The main rotor has spring to shut down the rotor when the slider is released. You can see it on the right had side below.
After slackening the screw, I unclipped the spring from the slider, rotated it round a bit and re-tightened the screw to hold it still.
Finally the controller was re-assembled and screwed back together. As with this mod on the other controllers, before turning the controller on, check that the main rotor control is pulled right back.
Conclusion
The MX-1 only has one feature that I can recommend it on and that is it’s portability. If you are looking for a second or third helicopter that can live in your bag to fill the odd spare moment then the MX-1 is for you. But you definitely shouldn’t buy this as your first micro helicopter. For that I would still recommend the PicooZ.
Facts and Figures
Whats in the box
- MX-1 helicopter
- Combined infra-red transmitter, storage and charging unit
- Multi-language manual
- Spare tail rotor
You have to supply
- 4 x AA batteries
- Cross-head screwdriver in order to fit them.
Dimensions
- Main rotor diameter: 96 mm
- Fuselage length: 115 mm
- Height: 60 mm
- Weight: 8 grammes
Manufacturers Website
- Silverlit main site
- MX-1 product page – (Link removed due to malware infection of product web page)
