flipstart,
Another vote for NO expo when starting out. Most trainers should be set up with very gentle control surface movement. Any expo here would complicate the learning process. Learning with expo on a trainer will also complicate things when you are ready to move up to a "hotter" plane. Save it for later.


Hossfly,
Some of the best R/C pilots in the world fly thumbs only. Chip Hyde, David Shulman, and Quique Somenzini just to name a few. I guess it's all what you get used to and feel comfortable with.