I have had all of the zone 1's through zone 3 planes from hobbyzone. Its definitely not just a marketing gimmick as these planes definitely are meant for different skill levels. I started with a firebird commander but now that they are offering the scout I would start with that one before going to a 3 channel. That scout will give you some cheaper experience because if you are like me you will go through more than one of them before you get the hang of things and are ready to move up to a 3 channel such as the challenger or xtreme. I still fly both the xtreme and challenger regularly and their fun value hasn't worn out yet. One suggestion, unless you have someone that will be flying with you and you will be accumulating multiple hobbyzone/parkzone planes, I buy all of them on the same frequency so I can take the whole fleet out but only carry the one transmitter. Also if you ever decide to get into aerial photography the xtreme can carry a full size digital camera with ease so its a nice one to have.