I tried hooking up my transmitter, it worked, but not significantly better than the supplied box. I have found it useful. I'm doing snaps and spins with my TigerII with confidence after flying the supplied sport plane that flies almost exactly like my own plane. Going to start working on inverted and knife edge next. I don't care about helicopters or 3-D, just don't want to be as rusty next spring as I was last! I'm guessing that this will be a good investment in the long run, but I'm already looking at the expansion packs, just to find planes I might want to build.