What I find very hard to believe are any individuals that were once glow aficionados and now claim to be converts to the electric scene. I got my start with glow and it has always been a constant, mainstream, unceasing form of modeling, and continues to be for me - to this day. Hoarding of glow support equipment and accessories began long ago as the landscape morphed to what it is today.
Beginning in '08, the electric craze with reasonably new, high energy density, Lipo technology got my attention and was being pushed by one of the big three conglomerates. I gave it a try - even have a few - and have concluded that there is no apparent sense of satisfaction derived from the electric experience at the end of a flight. Its like there is an essential - je-ne-sais-quoi - missing from the electric experience that only comes from burning fuel. Like having sex without release or trying an O'doul's at a beer tasting party - it just doesn't satisfy the same way glow will. Along with electric power association seems to come all the stability augmentation and gyro sensor assisted flight systems which beckons one to ask: what's the point? Its nearing full autonomy now. That's no challenge and no fun in my book. Just like flying the stimulator at home - why even bother going to the flying field? Don't miss-understand me - yes, you can develop and improve your flying skills. However, its a means to an end - there is just no heart and soul with electrics. If battery energy density tech is even to improve five-fold, I'll still stick with glow as long as I can keep it going.
...Look at driving a car in today's world - all the high-tech gadgetry takes all the fun out of it for me anymore too. I used to enjoy driving a car; not anymore though. Push button starts, CVT, automatic wipers, lights that turn themselves off, touch screen radios with annoying, boot time lags, TPS, back-up cameras, self-parking systems, clocks that can't be set without resorting to the owner's manual that's on a disk, systems that are so sophisticated service requires replacement of modules rather than fixing what is broken. It used to be fun to get in a car, pull out the choke, step on the clutch, insert and twist the key while stepping on the gas, watch for coolant temp to rise before pushing in the choke, releasing the hand brake and using the clutch and gas pedals to "H" through the gears, and even use a manually operated hand-crank to roll down the window...
Back to model aviating:
What about noise and smoke? Isn't part of the fun supposed to be realism and the operation of a fuel-to-noise-and-smoke generator? Electrics are just too dainty, clean, and quiet to exude any form of fun factor. Another thing that bothers me when operating an electric model, particularly when taxiing, is that anytime the throttle stick is pulled all the way back, the motor quits. You can't just restart with a glow-driver and hand flips. Compression is nonexistent and the only thing you might be able to "feel" might be cogging torque from the magnets. No needle valve to twist either; at least some of the early brushed motors had a timing screw you could adjust - but not anymore. Nope. No fun. Sorry, not impressed.
I rather enjoy licking the chicken fat off my glow-powered models following a day of flying at the field but loathe putting the un-flown Lipos back on storage charge at home because of an underwhelming, apathetic state toward electric power -