Tech n Gadgets Blog: Air Hogs Hawk Eye: Hands on with the webcam that takes to the sky

Monday, November 22, 2010

Air Hogs Hawk Eye: Hands on with the webcam that takes to the sky

Webcam goes remote controlled for Christmas
Air Hogs Hawk Eye: Hands on with the webcam that takes to the sky

“You’ll have someone’s eye out with that”, is probably the first thing you are going to say when one of these comes whizzing towards you on Christmas day, before grabbing the remote control and having a go yourself.

The Air Hogs Hawk Eye, not to be mistaken with anything to do with the motion tracking software found on the cricket pitch, is a remote controlled helicopter with a built-in webcam so you can snap pictures and film video of your escapades in flight.

Costing ?64.99 and available from Toys R Us, The Entertainer, and Play.com it is a considerably cheaper alternative to the Parrot AR Drone that costs ?300.

In play you plug it in to your computer, and charge the helicopter for around 30 minutes which will give you around 5 precious minutes in which to fly around your house.

A choppy beginning (you really should spend time adjusting the trim before you go into it gung ho) and you’re ready to spy on your work colleagues or “big sister.”

Flying the Hawk Eye does take a little bit of getting used to and we would recommend not doing it where you're likely to hit things that matter to you. And yes your dog or cat will probably go crazy.

Still, if you can keep your new helicopter in the sky for long enough the Hawk Eye supports the ability to take still shots (640 x 480 pixels) and 5 minutes worth video (320 x 240) with no sound. Admittedly nothing that will set the world alight from a resolution point of view, but the auto focus, ISO friendly camera has a grainy film noir feel to it.

You can even edit your videos adding sounds, images, and words via the company’s website http://video.airhogs.com/ as long as you can get the Hawk Eye back.

Ours was last seen heading over our neighbours fence, no really.

When we get it back we'll see if it's survived the crash and add the video we took.