I was in the ame boat as you my friend! I went with the Fly Zone Sensi.  Its a great 4 ch plane and I have been learning to fly it on my own. It has a 58 inch wing span and is 48 inches long. Here is the link for it.  Hope this helps!!

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...XCKWL&P=ML

You can also look at the review on youtube by 2 brothers.

1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk96TGPLbOw
2  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9k7bHeVRIw