I decided to post a reply to this to provide information about my purchase of the WLToys F949 plane. The plane has some good featues: EPP foam, long flight time, decent durability.

Just wanted to say a couple things about it. Comparing to the Champ RTF, the Champ's flight characteristics (coming from a beginner) are so good that I really never had to learn how to fly it. I just kind of started up the throttle and got it in the air and was able to steer it around for the most part. With the WLToys F949, the flight is a little more rough and requires a little more babysitting the sticks. I could pretty much let go of the Champ's controls at times and it would fly itself. With the F949, it seems to bounce around in the air a lot, like the aerodynamics are not quite right. It's harder to make a smooth turn or descent, as it's movement is jerkier.

But nevertheless, the plane is still fun to fly. And I got a solid 25 to 30 minutes of flight, and it still had more in it, but I was getting cold outside. In terms of durability, they seem pretty solid, except for the propeller. The prop is definitely thinner than others I've seen, and if you nose dive...the prop definitely can break more easily than other planes. The other thing I didn't like was the nose cone. When I had to replace my prop, the nose cone needs to be remove first. Trying to get the nose cone off is a pain. It felt like it was glued on, but another users suggested theirs were just snug. But either way, it doesn't go back on tight at all. So I might have to put just a tiny dab of glue on the nose cone so it doesn't fall off in flight.

And finally, a trick you can use to get extra charges out in the field. The F949's transmitter doesn't come with the charging cable built into the transmitter. So there are two ways you can charge the battery in the field: 1. You can use a USB power bank with the USB charger included with the F949. 2. You can actually use another WLToys transmitter which includes one. I was able to bind the plane to my WLToys V911 chopper transmitter and the controls work. I also confirmed that I could start charging the battery with my V911 Controller.

Anyway, for $50 or so these days, the F949 is definitely worth picking up!