In response to your question on buying the Futaba t4exa, I'll quote your own post:
"I agree 100%. I would rather buy a used brand name radio system than a new bottom of the barrel cheapie."
That radio is, by definition, a bottom of the barrel cheapie. It was originally made for people who wanted something cheap, and what's available now has surpassed it in every way. Here's the problem with it: age takes its toll. Let's say that radio is 10 years old. It could be much older, but we don't know. Chances are, the battery is no good, because no one is going to go buy a new battery for a radio like that just to turn around and sell it. So add the cost of a new battery to the budget. Then there are the unknowns:A past user may have changed the frequency without sending the radio in to be retuned. That will hurt the range and cause you to have a crash when you get far enough away. How about the receivers? Have they ever been in a crash? Cracked crystals will cause intermittent losses of signal usually brought on by vibration at some point. How much did your plane cost again? How many times has the transmitter been dropped? How has it been stored? You don't know.
Then there's the problem of forward compatibility. Nearly all of us at some point in the hobby want or need a more capable radio with better programming or more channels. And it's really nice when we can use our existing receivers with the new radio. Forget it with 72mhz though.
Save your money for a while and buy a new good quality 6 channel computer radio. I'm really impressed with Graupner's stuff in the "bang for your buck" category. But Hitec and Airtronics give you a pretty good value also. Since you're not going to be working with an instructor, you are free to pick whatever brand you want to. That's what I meant above by the comment that this is not a place to save money. It's perfectly good to save money by buying used airframes or engines, because you can see easily enough if they are airworthy. Ditto for field gear like starters and field boxes. But radios aren't as easy to check out, and since the technology has advanced so much over the last few years you are giving up so much by buying an old one. Invest in a good radio today and leave yourself with one less thing to worry about.