ORIGINAL: RCKen

Well, I'm going to be the one to disagree. If you have a good instructor, and you are going to train on a buddy box, there isn't any reason to buy an ARF. I've been an instructor for about 6 years now and I've never lost a students plane yet. Years ago before ARF's came on the market all that you could do was build the plane yourself and then fly it. ARF's are nice, but unfortunately they make people lazy. Too many people will damage an ARF and instead of spending some time to repair it properly, they get mad and throw it away and go spend their money an another ARF. I've salvaged some nice planes out of the trash cans at the field, take them home, fix them up, and either fly them or sell them. It's too bad that so many people these days don't want to build. It's a fantastic feeling to see something you built take to the air.

As somebody that has built many a plane, I can tell you there is nothing that feels as good as seeing the plane that you built flying. It's a great feeling. If you've got an instructor don't waste your money on an ARF.