Lift,

My experience was a bit similar, I started with a ZXX and once I could hover I wanted a bigger one.. My mistake was I got the "best value" heli at the time which was the Vigor standard.

I too was "intimidated" at the expense of maintaining it so all it did was figure-8s and I sold it since I was too afraid of crashing so I got a Freya (R60 wasn't available yet). Needless to say, after crashing the Freya on it's 2nd flight, I wasn't intimidated with the repair costs so it became my main bird of choice.

I sold the Vigor and once I could hover in ALL orientations, I treated myself to the Extreme since I know I won't be dumb-thumbing it anymore. I just took the Fury for it's maiden flights yesterday and it was as good as I expected it to be.

Now that I have 2 60s again, I will give the Freya a much deserved teardown, refurbish it so that all the wear and tear 300 flights have taken on it will be fixed. Also, I shoved the 60 back in it as now I think I'll be more daring and run the engine borderline lean to get as much power as I dare can out of it now that I'm no longer afraid of flame-outs or overheating compared to the earlier days when my auto skills where not 100% successful.b