I only read down to Kens last post so if this was said before never mind. The radio you are looking at comes up on sale at Hobby People every couple of months. From what people say IT is a good one. Airtronics isn't one of the brands seen at my fields very often so I don't know. I did study up on there new 10 ch. and was impressed with the programming, for myself, not for a beginner. The 8 is great for someone new. Check with Hobby Peoples web site and sign up for there sale's flier. It's nice to know what is on sale in advance.
Buy a couple of 6 inch extensions to keep on hand, money well spent! I leave two short extensions plugged in my RXs at all times, my wing/ail. servos plug into them. Other then that I never use extensions.
What John and Ken said about how we used to get our radio gear is true, they came in a complete package but not so much today. All you need are standard servos so if you find them in a deal when on sale with the radio then cool. I had to shop around to buy just my radio, back then they were all a complete system.
Go to Servo City and look for a sale. You can often get some great deals on batteries, extensions and servos plus switches.
My choice in switches is the JR heavy duty switch with the charge jack but it's another one of those choice things.
Don't forget your Local Hobby Shop, they usually have everything on hand. I sometimes pay more for an item at my LHS but I try to support them, if you don't then they may not be there when you really need them. In my case I have three of them in about 4 blocks of each other. I visit all of them on the same day when I'm on that side of the strip.