The only reason, AS A BEGINNER BUYING MY FIRST RADIO, I would not buy the Aurora would be because of the lack of help I would be able to get at the local field. Unless your field has a bunch of them of course.

That being said, you have the instruction book and the internet to ask questions. It is not that difficult to learn to set up a plane... as they say, the devil is in the details.

I have heard that the guys love the Aurora radio... I have yet to see one at our field, but we are mostly Spektrum/JR guys on 2.4.

Plan to read the manual... even if you don't understand what you are reading.. keep going, you will pick up a few things... set up a simple plane, then read the manual again... things always work better if you read the instructions.

I don't agree with the advice of buying all you can afford. Sure you can buy the 14 channel transmitter, and get great results.... by the time you have grown enough with the hobby to need the 14, the technology will have changed and you will end up buying another very expensive radio.

For the vast majority of sport flying people, 6 channels is adequate. If you are going to fly multi-engine warbirds, with flaps, gear and servo controlled features(bombs, rockets, lights) you will gobble up channels quickly.