Here's my thoughts on the 12X, which I own - and can compare to the Aurora 9 and an EVO 12 also. I find the 12X manual to be poorly written with photos of screen shots that are so faint as to be almost unreadable.When they can be read they rarely show what the text is describing, but the screen prior to any recommended changes. The Royal EVO is so-so but still far more readable and makes more sense than the JR, and the Aurora 9 manual is light years ahead of both; it even gives a "dictionary" of what their terms are and how they relate to the system. Can you imagine JR ever providing translation for what they call functions or surfaces? This is, to my thinking, the greatest issue with JR - what the hell are they talking about?
As far as programming goes, the JR (regardless of the claim that channels can be selected for switches or vice-versa) is not so flexible as they would have you believe - there are "rules" that are not mentioned in the manuals that really screw up logical thought and processes. It would be great if something came out with files for setups as are supplied by Hitec for their Aurora and the Multiplex EVO Tutorial that's available on line. It's pretty difficult and requires work arounds to get some functions connected to the proper switches/levers and this is a real programming problem. The MPX is far more flexible and once you forget "Asian" programming it's really simple and quite logical; It takes little time to set up a complex model to respond exactly as one would prefer. The Aurora 9 has a few bugs still which, hopefully, will be corrected soon and is almost "too" easy to program and retains less flexibility than I would prefer. It's almost like the dumb relative of the Royal EVO and is great for some setups but a little too quirky for others. I also hope that they come out with a 12-14 channel version to handle my large scale sailplanes. After the destruction of a
very pricy TD ship to my EVO I no longer fly with it, even though it's been repaired. A new Tx costs a whole lot less than the TD glider so it's not worth it to take a chance repeating that event. I now fly only on 2.4 with my Aurora and JR12X. I just wish they had software similar to the EVO. From a Human Factors standpoint JR needs to get rid of those dopey round knobs that few people like and replace them with switches or something more functional on the faceplate. That aside, the JR 12X feels "right" as do the Aurora 9 and the EVO is still my favorite as far as balance and feel. I was about to purchase one of the new Airtronics transmitters but couldn't get past that "ridge" that presses into the balls of my thumbs...perhaps only my problem, but it didn't feel good to me and that's a shame as it's probably a great Tx for sailplanes. It's been so long since I've flown Futaba (back in the AM days) that I can't comment at all on them. As usual, it's always different strokes for different folks.
My thoughts and opinions only -
bob