Cole, may I offer you a suggestion? If at all practicable, get yourself to a hobby shop that has the Futaba, the JR, and the Hitec in stock, and will let you take them each out of the box, flip through the manual, and perhaps turn it on and play with the menus, etc. Personally, I don't think that the extra channel alone is enough to recommend the JR over the Hitec, but you may find that you like one better than the other, or a Futaba better than both, just by giving them a good look in person. BTW, don't feel bad--I research the living daylights out of everything before I buy.