RE: New to 2.4GHz
Well that question alone is enough to start a brand war but let me say as a reviewer, I have the opportunity to use all the major brands and they all do what we ask of them, fly our models.
There's a couple of advantages of a native 2.4 system over a module based especially with Spektrum/JR.
Model match is a feature that makes sure your receiver not only listens only to your transmitter (as all 2.4 systems do) but in addition it only links if you have the correct model memory selected that the aircraft is bound to.
In additon servo outputs are sequenced in response to mixing, so that if enable dual elevators for example the elevator position updates are grouped together instead of waiting in sequence of the channel numbers like 72mhz systems. This fixes the issue of several older radios have when enabling dual aileron or dual elevator setups where they didnt move at the same time.
Also the system processing speed on the older systems just isn't any where near what it is today.
I'd invest in a decent radio if you're going to stick with the hobby.