The "performer" has long since been retired, it's been replaced with a pair of Blade CP+ helicopters, which are far more difficult (and expensive) to fly but much more rewarding as it goes where you want it to.

Well, my "performer" helicopter not only doesn't steer, it doesn't charge either. I have to manually charge the lithium polymer pack every time I want to use it. Good thing I have my $5 power supply from SWAP. . .

I purchased one of the toy helicopters from Buy.com when they had them on sale for $16.99 with free shipping. I took advantage of the -$10 for using Google Checkout for the first time. For $7 I thought it would be worth it to pick one up. . . that would be if the charger worked and if it had more than two channel spin/hover control. Unfortunately, it is rather addicting and I can say one of these is definitely more realistic than the RC airplanes that I flew when I was younger. I'll post some hints and tips to flight control and trimming the helicopter for the first time. Also some good pictures if you are curious as to what's inside!