As an instructor let me throw my 2¢ worth in here. I've seen a lot of different trainers come with the students that I've taught. I've seen several of the Nexstars so I've had a chance to base my opinion on first had experience. As far as the plane itself goes, it's pretty much the same as all of the other trainers that are out there. It's not any worse or better than the others. It's a pretty decent flying trainer. Ok, so why is it more expensive than the other RTF trainers out there? First off, it's a little bit bigger plane (approx. 60 size) with a bigger engine (OS 46 FX). But the other part that makes it more expensive is the "gadgets" on it (wing droops, speed brakes, and the AFS). It also comes with a flight simulator too, albeit a limited simulator (the Nexstar is the only plane you can fly with this simulator). These gadgets are supposed to make it easier to fly and therefore easier to learn. When I get a student show up with one of these trainers the first things I do is to disconnect the AFS and remove the wing droops and speed brakes. What?? But didn't you pay for those features? You may have paid for them, but I prefer to not use them to teach. First of all, the AFS is a sort of "auto pilot" that will help return the plane to level flight. Ok then, why do you need an instructor if the plane does it for you? IMHO it's next to impossible to learn to fly if you don't actually "do" the tasks. If the plane is leveling out for you then you will never learn to do it yourself. What's going to happen when you move to a second plane? Are you going to put the AFS on it? As far as the wing droops and speed brakes go, I consider them actually a hindrance making the plane a bit harder to teach on. So I prefer to remove them.

Ok, so with the "extras" that you paid for being disconnected or removed why would you spend the extra money in the first place? This is my point, why pay for them if you aren't going to use them? Now I will say that the flight simulator you get is a good thing. It helps the student practice at the times that they aren't at the field. But I will say that I don't think a student should touch the simulator before they have seen an instructor. A lot of times a student will jump on the simulator and start "practicing" before they ever go out to the field. The problem with this is that the student can learn bad techniques and develop bad habits because of this. Since they haven't seen an instructor they just do whatever seems right. Then when the start with the instructor these bad habits will need to be un-learned before before the instructor can start teaching them the correct way to fly. As I said above, the simulator is ok to practice with after the student starts with the instructor, but it should stay in the box until they find an instructor.

If the simulator is important to you, then get the Nexstar. If your trying to save money, forget about the Nexstar and get one of the cheaper RTF packages out there (which can save over $100 in some cases). The choice is yours.

Hope this helps

Ken