EP or GP? I have zero ARF experience with foam, or EP from Tower. But if you want a background on glow powered ARF's, here are my experiences:
Yes, many arf's are excellent and well priced. Some are far from anything I'd own. You have to be selective.
Keep in mind ARFs are production made, glue is at a minimum and the monokote "type" covering can cause headaches, and is used to literally hold things together. Kits are stronger, or can be made stronger. You'd me amazed actually how quickly a box of sticks can come together. I enjoy it a lot, especially the older stuff. But an ARF is always fast 4 hour build and you're in the sky, with clearly many exceptions. Trainers and sport planes are what I'm saying, no flaps, retracts, cowls to cut, typically 4 servo flight packs.
For an even faster build time and low dollar ARF cost,
http://ecsvr.com/abm/shopexd.asp?id=2926 $129.95. The control surfaces are already hinged and strong. The engine mount is already mounted to the fuselage. The covering is acceptable. The tailset bolts on and aligns the pieces which is a great clamp for epoxy to make it strong. They fly great. I probably had 4 of them some years back and got everyone buying into them because it's literally 3 hours and you're flying. You can brush on finish resin which is just thin epoxy, on the firewall, bulk head, fuel compartment, and wing halves. Adds considerably to the life of the model as well as prevent gluing it anyway after a hard landing.
EP, they're made as light as possible to compensate for less power and longer battery life doing less work. They're not happy on windy days. If you do get EP, be extremely careful about arming the throttle as it can start and cut you up fast before you know it and not stop until you turn the throttle stick back down to idle! Glow, it doesn't suddenly start on its own. Many injuries are reported for this reason. But a $49.95 overstock deal is going on 50% off for an EP balsa model. Not sure how it flies. Buy two!
http://ecsvr.com/abm/shopdisplayprod...verstock+Sales