When you add a rechargeable battery to the Tactic, it's not that far off from the prices of its competition.
Futaba is hard to beat but one of the more expensive choices, especially when you look at the price of receivers. You are paying for quality with them though, so it's a good choice. A quick Google search will locate a vendor for you quickly. Problems with Spektrum are just too common for me to ever trust them with a plane I care about. I have a DX7 for my bind and fly indoor planes, but that's it.