POWERUP 4.0 The Next-Generation Smartphone Controlled Paper Airplane Kit, RC Controlled. Easy to Fly with Autopilot & Gyro Stabilizer. for Hobbyists, Pilots, Tinkerers.

The PowerUp 4.0 may seem a bit pricey at first, but it is absolutely worth it. My 10-year-old has spent hours and hours playing with it—far more than any other Christmas present this year. What I love most is that it genuinely inspires creativity, invention, and problem-solving. He enjoys building planes from the app as well as designing his own, constantly tweaking and improving them to see what flies best. As a bonus, it gets him outside and moving, running after his planes and testing new ideas. It’s rare to find a toy that blends STEM learning, creativity, and physical activity so seamlessly, and this one really delivers.

This gets a 1000/10 on the fun scale. I have never used the Invader fold that comes with the kit; I've always used POWERUP 4.0 with my original fold that I've been developing for years (see images; I'm a nerd.) Best place to fly for me has been an empty hotel ballroom, or an empty parking lot. (An empty ballpark or gymnasium might be good too.) My longest flight time is 7 minutes and 7 seconds, and it ended because the battery died. The flight time graph in the POWERUP app goes up to 8 minutes. Flight time probably depends on how draggy or efficient your fold is, and how you fly it (lots of climbs and tightly banked turns use a lot of thrust). The flight controls on the phone are very easy, but might seem awkward at first. There are presets for which model you have. There are also three "Custom Plane" presets, which worked for me perfectly for me without any adjustments. To fly, you hold your thumb down and that unlocks the plane's thrusters, and you slide up for more thrust, and slide down for less. Your thrust application changes your altitude. When you tilt your phone side to side, that is how your steer. (There is another control setting where you use two thumbs, but I don't use that one...) There is an "auto pilot" system that tries to make corrections and aids in your flight (for example, if the nose goes too high, it will cut the thrusters so that the plane doesn't stall). This can help your flight, but I find it can also cause odd oscillations to occur. You can try to dial in and tune your flight characteristics in the app (which is VERY COOL), but I honestly think it's way easier to adjust your fold for better flight before editing the characteristics in the software... If you want less "auto pilot" intervention, you can turn on "Acro Mode" which, I think, turns a lot of that computer stuff off. I only fly in Acro Mode, and my plane flies amazingly. As for frustrations... You CAN get really frustrated, especially when you're testing a design and you only have 8 minutes of flight to test. It takes about 15-20 minutes to fully charge. I usually use that time to fold another spare wing, or to try a new fold. Just keep in mind that you can easily wait 20 minutes for a charge and then waste the entire charge crashing every 15 seconds... Spare parts and accessories are easy to find, and they're pretty cheap. I have the landing gear installed, which, at first, I thought was silly and made the plane look silly, but my folds last longer because the landings are much softer now (even though not perfect). I never take off from the ground though; I always throw it, as there isn't much control when it's on the ground. A couple notes for success... Understand which ways the propellers rotate and which one goes on which side. There is a distinct left and right one; they are not the same! If you use tractor mode (where POWERUP 4.0 is installed with propellers in front) you'll have to swap the left and right propellers to reverse the direction of thrust. POWERUP says tractor mode hasn't been tested. I still think it's a challenge, but be careful when trying to fly in this configuration. I feel I get MUCH better flight control with "Acro Mode" on. Lastly, never fly with your phone in "Low Power Mode" as I've found there to be way more Bluetooth dropouts (it's generally a very stable connection though). Have fun!!!

Since I have gotten this, I have loved it. My longest flight was 9 minutes with the Invader model. I love that during flight it will tell you when you have flown for 1 minute, 2 minutes, etc. I am watching the plane and don't really look at how much time I have been in the air, so that's a really good feature of it. And I love that they have other planes that you can fold and you just choose that plane in the app and it also tracks which plane you have flown and also you can see each flight that you have done and the duration of each flight. Just make sure that you fly it on grass because if you fly it near concrete, and you land on it, you will possibly break a propeller, so I would buy the spare propellers if you are going to be flying near a hard surface like a basketball court or other hard surface.

I definitely think this is the best kit to buy from power up. It has you actually build an airplane that covers making an airfoil design in the wing and making dihedial joint for stability of the airplane. Its a great stem project for kids who can grasp the concepts and then get to enjoy the flight achieved. I will warn people though that you need a lot more space than you think you do. I had lost one power up before in a tree when it got pushed back in light light winds and couldnt make a successful flight back. Almost this one once when controls stoped responding and landed in someones yard. I was using a football field, but the plane flies fast and distance is hard to approximate when high up and the glide the plane has even without power input . But i obviously bought a second one since its such a joy to fly and yhe ability to fly it with other paper airplanes or aircraft you create makes the possibilities endless. Fantastic product overall thats a joy to use 🙂

This is a pretty amazing little gadget. My (10 year old) son is obsessed. He loves all things RC but I wasn't quite ready to buy him a full blown RC plane. This is the perfect alternative and it is easy to figure out and fly. We had a small issue with a part and the seller was quick to respond and make it right. This makes a great gift or stocking stuffer!

The electronics and the iPhone app are first rate. The balsa wood kit was a little challenging in spots such as having to break the wing in half to obtain the proper wing angle. I was able to complete the balsa wood plane in about an hour and a half. Beware that the kit does not include the necessary superglue or a sanding block despite the fact that the ad says it does. I contacted the company and they apologized for the misleading ad, but did not offer any compensation. The accessories kit is largely worthless in that there is no explanation for how to use any of the parts and they are largely unnecessary to complete the balsa wood plane. The paper airplane had good video directions I searched but could not locate any such instructions for the balsa wood plane The plane was fun with these caveats. I have built many balsa wood planes so I did have experience. A child would require some help.

Tolles Ding. Als erstes ging es ans Falten. Das YouTube Video geschaut, manchmal war es etwas schnell, aber nach ein paar Malen, war der Flieger gefaltet. Flugwerk an das usb- Ladegerät. Papierflieger einjustiert, App heruntergeladen und raus aufs Feld. Der Flieger ist wirklich sehr schnell und fas Fliehen braucht doch mehr Geschick als gedacht, aber der Spaßfaktor ist definitiv da. Das wird nicht der letzte Flieger sein, den wir kaufen. Der Bruder hat schon großes Interesse bekundet. Das liegt auch im Preisbereich für ein Geburtstagsgeschenk für Freunde. Definitiv eine Empfehlung. 👍🏼

Full disclosure, he is also into aeronautics, rocketry, space-travel etc etc. But yeah, this did the trick on his birthday! The product works well, although it took us several tries to get it flying. Very quickly the model becomes a sort of iterative testing and experimenting platform, where the goal is to keep it flying the longest, or perhaps the highest. No accidents so far as we only fly in a nearby paddock, away from trees and roads. It crashes a lot, but we've had a lot of fun!

Bien empacado, excelente calidad, entregado en tiempo establecido, el kit se ve mejor físicamente ,altamente recomendado.

It is so cool to play with, but you have to know that it’s easy to break and get lost. So be careful

Expensive and poor quality. My son broke after only two hours of play.