I too am a Futaba guy I went from a Sky Sport 4 to the 9c thinking I'd never use that many channels but, used them all on a gasser. Bigger airplanes can use more than one channel for the same function .....ie dual aileron servos uses 2 channels and dual elevator servos uses 2 channels, that makes 4 channels gone. When I switched to 2.4 last spring I stayed Futaba, all my settings on my 9c were the same on my new 10C.
The point I am trying to make here is get the biggest baddest radio you can afford even if at this point you never see yourself using 9 or 10 channels.....You just don't know where this hobby will take you.