Benzza,

Flight range is probably a few hundred meters... But after about 50, it gets hard to see, hence hard to control. It's only a small heli afterall.

You can install an 8cell NiMH which is cheap, or for really longer flight times, try a LiPo... You'll probably get a long time with a Dragonfly... But watch you don't burn out your motors early. I get 5 to 10 mins from a warm charged 8cell 650mAh NiMH.

A LiPo will take just over an hour to charge, with a good charger, at 1C.

$86 is probably an OK price. It depends on what you got with it.

Regards
David