Electric ducted fans are definitely popular these days.   They look cool, sound cool and are pretty fast too.   I wanted to give a recommendation for a first ducted fan jet.   Ducted fan jets definitely aren't for beginners but it you have logged lots of hours on a propeller plane and you want to try someting differnt than I would recommend this jet and here is why.

#1.   It's easy to fly for an intermediate flyer.   She is very predictable in the air.   You might be thinking what does that mean?

Well I've have flown other EDF jets and their handling can become very squirley especially at slow speeds and in high bank turns.   Their wings loose lift somewhat unpredictably.   This plane has good low speed handling which makes it pretty forgiving.   Almost instantaneously you will figure out how she handls.   Another cool thing about this jet is that it can be flown in a relatively small area.   Some other EDF's require a large field to fly in.  Oh yeah and it's a pretty fast jet right out of the box so she will satisfy the need for speed for a while.

#2.   It"s a quick simple build.   I'm definetly more into flying a plane so as soon as it arrives I can't wait to have it in the air.   Since this jet uses tailerons for control you only need to servos to fly it which makes set up real easy.

#3.   Which is important to everyone....it's a real value.   It's cost hovers around $120 and that price includes the ESC, ducted fan and the brushless motor....MAN..... what a deal.

The jet does have a couple negatives though. The way the tailerons mounts to the plane is a little bit fragile.   When flaring the jet on landing sometime the elevator tops can snag the ground and damage the taileron mount.   It's a good idea to reinforce the area where they mount with wood or carbon fiber rod.   You want to make a habit of checking the elevators for any sloppiness before each flight.   If there is some you should use some glue to fix it.   Also the motor and servos get glued into the fuselage so it's a little hard to replace them if they get broken or worn.   It's possible to do but will require cutting foam and regluing it.

Here are a couple tips for flying it.   Though it will fly with a battery as big as a 2500mAh and as small as a 1250mAh I recommend a battery around the 1600mAh size.   This size will give you a good blend of decent flight times, as well as a good thrust to weight ratio.

I cut out a 2 liter coke bottle and used 2 inch strips of it to line the bottom of the fuselage.   This allows you to land on asphalt and not ruin the belly.

A firm straight toss is needed to launch the plane and I usually have it at 3/4 throttle.

The only time I even crashed it was during launching because of a bad throw.