I have a nexstar ARF which did not come with the autopilot. On the sim though, the one with the autopilot teaches bad habits when banking. See, you start the bank and you have to hold the aileron control to continue the bank otherwise it will self-right. When flying a plane with no autopilot, that would result in a roll.

I started flying mine with nothing on it - no speed flaps, no anti-spin wingtips, nothing. I like it except for the fact that it tries to skirt to the right on full throttle take off. Even with washers behind the engine mount to reduce right thrust it still does it, seems like it wants to go up on the nose so downthrust may be a factor. Half throttle and its clean.

As for the price, the ARF was competitively priced with the hangar 9 alpha and a few other trainer ARFs. I'm happy with it myself. Mounted a OS .46 AX on the nose and the range of power is very nice.