Originally Posted by
init4fun
And now , as far as radio equipment goes , here's my two cents worth ;
It is my belief that nowadays no one makes a bad or junk radio , the offerings from the bigs like Futaba and Spektrum as well as the smalls like FrSky are all worthy of consideration . As tedsander mentioned I'd stay away from anything brand new to the market to let the inevitable software bugs get ironed out elsewhere than at your field and with your plane . I'd pick a system with at least a year or two's good reviews and most importantly after that one that not only feels comfortable in your hands but also that you feel comfortable with the programming / set up of (I'll bet by now there are countless programming videos on all the latest RC equipment to by found searching the RC forums , U Tube , etc.) . As a final thought , if buying new , choose your vendor wisely by checking their customer service reviews . Some vendors have great reviews and others not so much , an educated customer is seldom a disappointed customer .....
Since I just answered a very similar radio question this morning , I think I'll reuse that same post here , with one addition to address a specific part of the OP's post ;
Nowadays , the cries of this or that brand of radio being junk are heard from those who need an excuse for their bad flying or bad setup . When one of these people plants one it's always someone/something's fault except the man in the mirror . For a while when people knew nothing of the "low voltage brownout" it was fashionable to bash Spektrum radios , when all the while it was the inadequate 4 cell NIMH receiver packs that weren't up to the task . Once the 2 cell LIFE took over the low voltage brownout became a thing of the past and nowadays any properly powered radio is just as good as any other , no matter the brand name .