I fly a GP PT40, the older one before the MKII, which I think is basically just like a Tower trainer.Only complaint I have is I built the HI dihedral wing, and it makes crosswind landings and takeoffs a pain on windy days.
Mine is forgiving, tough, easy to fix, and I can do some mild acrobatics as long as I am "two or three mistakes high". That said, I am not really thrilled with it, although it is doing exactly what it is supposed to do-train.
Like has been said before, I think any trainer would do the job of training...a buddy box helps a lot too!