Yea, I took the plain old 4 channel route with my trainer trying to save a few bucks. I outgrew that by my second model and found out that I should of purchased a better radio. My next radio was a 6XAS which served me well for about 2 years. When I moved up to the more advanced scale aerobatic planes I found out how fast the channels get used up. I replaced my 6XAS with an Airtronics Stylus with all the upgrade cards. It took me alittle while to learn what all the functions were for but now all I can do is say nice. I have also programmed a 9C and believe it is one of the easiest to program radios I have seen. Much easier than my 6XAS was. If my students were to inquire about the 9C I would not try to sway them away from it. All the extra functions can just lie in wait till they need them. This is of course if I picked up that they were serious about staying with the hobby. If they were just trying it out then RTF all the way.