PowerUp 3.0 Bluetooth Controlled Paper Airplane Drone
The claim: The PowerUp 3.0 takes paper airplanes to high-tech heights. The kit turns a self-made paper airplane into a smartphone-controlled flying machine. Bluetooth connectivity provides a flight range of 180 feet. The flying experience is enhanced by FlightAssist technology. It's built with a crash-proof carbon-fiber body, so it can take a beating and keep flying. The box holds three templates: one for beginners, one for advanced pilots and a waterproof template.
Cost: $49.99
Where: poweruptoys.com
You don't outgrow paper airplanes. When you're done folding, you've made something that flies, and that never stops being wonderful. So the idea of adding a remote-controlled propeller had the nerd in me bouncing around like a 3-year-old who got into the Mountain Dew.
The brain of the operation is a receiver and flight controller inside a clear, plastic shell attached to a tiny propeller and rudder by a thin, solid piece of carbon fiber. It's surprisingly sturdy for its size, and it survived several inadvertent arboreal encounters. One complaint: the LED that blinks during charging will light up a room at night.
Two paper-plane templates in the box add to eight others you can print from the company's website — a great touch. Take care when folding them. The propeller's thrust magnifies every little imbalance.
Do not try to fly this thing without a lot of room — and a lot of patience. If you have to wonder whether your back yard is big enough, it isn't. Once airborne, control via an impressive smartphone app is tricky. You turn the rudder by tilting your cellphone, and adjust the throttle by moving your finger over the screen.
That alone would be touchy. Add to the mix an airframe as light as a sheet of paper and a rudder that's necessarily miniscule, and things can go sideways quickly. Also, the elevators are immobile tabs you cut in the wings and fold upward. Adjusting the plane's speed can influence its altitude, but I wouldn't call it control.
PowerUp 3.0 is a supremely cool idea, executed well enough to get off the ground — even if things get tricky once you do.
PowerUp 3.0 is an awesome little device that turns boring paper airplanes into something way cooler. It's easy to use, too: Download the app to your Bluetooth-connected smartphone or tablet, fold your paper airplane from downloadable templates, clip on the thingamajig, and go outside for a high-flying adventure.
The device takes about 30 minutes to completely charge and, depending on how fast you fly it, the fun can last almost 20 minutes! The fuel gauge on the app shows how much battery you have left. One of my favorite features is the intuitive motion control that allows your phone to control the speed or direction of the airplane's flight by tilting it.
The device is durable, too. Mine survived a nosedive that sent it careening into a shed. Plus, it comes with an extra rudder and propeller for those less-than-miraculous landings. Another plus: The packaging doubles as a protective case, so no parts will go missing the next time you want to use it.
The only downside I discovered is when you get a call during a flight. The plane goes at the same speed but is harder to steer unless you put the call on speaker phone. But how about putting your phone on Do Not Disturb mode and enjoy a childhood pastime that's been upgraded for millennials?
Overall, I think this is a great toy for kids, as long as they're supervised during the first few flights until they get the hang of it. For adults, welcome to the future.
After building paper airplanes and flying remote-controlled aircraft my entire life, I was pretty excited to see how this product would work. I went to the website and, following the “how-to” video, building the plane couldn't have been any easier.
As a Naval Aviator with close to 3,000 hours of flight time in turbo props and jets, I can say the interface app used on the smartphone is essentially a glass cockpit interface like those used on multimillion-dollar planes. It is phenomenal on my iPhone 6s. It displays the current temperature, wind, an artificial horizon, the compass rose overlaid on the horizon, battery life, throttle position and signal strength.
My big expensive remote control planes have none of these features, making me wonder: Why haven't they done this already?
As with most remote control planes, they can only handle extremely light breezes — and with a paper airplane, I suggest no wind at all. But being excited to fly it, I went outside to a 5- to 8-knot wind. I was essentially able to make it hover into the breeze like a seagull, having a fair amount of control.
There is a quick learning curve looking at the phone to control the aircraft and watching the aircraft to see how it is flying/reacting to your inputs. It's extremely easy to fly.
And it is sturdy. I must have hit two trees, a parked car and a fence on multiple flights because I was in a small area. Even with that, there was no damage to the paper airplane and the remote control unit was essentially untouched, being protected with the plane itself.
With PowerUp, you have a remote-control paper airplane with endless airframes. You destroy the paper airplane, throw it away and build a new one from a new piece of paper. It's just that easy! Much cheaper than crashing a $200-plus remote control plane.
Overall, I was extremely impressed with the PowerUp 3.0 — the pinnacle of paper airplane technology. It surpassed my expectations by far.
