Originally Posted by Aerocal

DX5i? Im guessing you mean DX5e? While it has its place it is the bottom of the line non computer radio. Comparing its performance to a DX18 or any of the G2 radios is like comparing a Ford to a Fiat. I have to agree with you on the trust issue. If you dont understand what is going on and have no way to find out it can be a confidence killer.
I still dont quite understand how you would compare a DX5e to a DX18 or G2 Spektrum or to one of the XG JR radios. In the end if its what peaks your confidence and works good for you thats the most important thing.
Id like to ask something though. Not in any derogatory way.Just curious since you stated you are meticulous about setup. Do you take advantage of monitoring any of the performance stats of a system on setup or during operation? I dont consider myself meticulous but I take take all reasonable steps to assure my system is going to do what I expect. Before we had telemetry widely available I used an Eagletree logger to graph my voltages and FL data during setup and at least the first few flights. I checked FL data with the little plugin reader box after flights to make sure I wasnt having signal issues.
It alerted me to several problems with remote cables inflight that I never noticed on the ground. It didnt save me from BEC failures though.But when I dug it out of the wreckage it told me exactly what happened when i retreived the data. Once I used telemetry I found that even BECs dont die instantly. If you get a bad servo or its overloaded or just plain weak the minimum voltage will drop a few tenths long before it shuts off. If voltage is sagging for any reason it means land now while you can before you fall out of the sky. Ive been saved a shutdown more than once. Same with FL data alarms. If theres a Rx or Tx problem it generally doesnt happen completely and instantly. You will get momentary Holds with no noticable loss of control long before a complete failure.