What is the best first single rotor rc heli for beginner?

There are hundreds out there that are great. Here are some ideas. You want to get a hobby grade RC Heli. Stay away from WalMart, Radio Shack and stores like that. Get yourself one from a hobby store. That way you can find replacement parts WHEN you break it. And you will break parts, a lot! Also, you need to know that the bigger the RC, the easier it is to fly and control. Those small ones are junk, hard to work on, and have to run harder to stay in the air and to control because they are so small. Think of how fast the wings on a housefly flap compared to a bird, just to stay in flight. Another thing, if you are a beginner you want less channels on the transmitter. If this is your first RC Heli, I suggest getting a 3 or 4 channel RC. My first Heli was a 4 channel and that was quite a lot to handle starting off. Out of my 15+ years in the RC hobby, flying a Heli was the hardest to learn and took the longest to learn. You need to have patience and a good understanding of how the RC moves and works. You are not going to just pull it out of the box and take flight. There are set up and tuning proceedures you have to do EVERY TIME you want to fly it. There are a lot of moving parts that need adjustment and lose their adjustment each run. So don't get frustrated or discouraged if you aren't flying straight right away or doing barrel rolls your first day/week/month of owning it. It take a lot of time and practice to get use to the controls. A great web site to purchase a high quality AND affordable RC Heli is www.xheli.com. You can get all of your replacement and upgrade parts from them as well. When you visit the site I suggest looking to the left and selecting by channel, 3 or 4. They have plenty to choose from and I am sure you will find one you will like. Hope this helps!