Hey PaPa I'm back. It depends, just about any radio will last a good long time if you take care of it. You know, keep it clean, throwing it against the wall is definitely out of the question.
. And it will need to be sent in for service once in a while. IE after a crash, or just once a year or so for calibration. Somethings you wan't to consider are, is it compatible with what most of the people at the club you are going to fly at are using, so you can hook up a buddy cord while learning. We have driven the instructor thing home havn't we? Another is do you plan to progress to other options, such as retractable landing gear, or flaps, bomb drops, turbine powered jets
. If so you may wan't to look into more channels, or possibly a computer radio. If so, and you can crank out the pennies, you might consider getting the radio of your future today. It will save you money in the long run. But if all you can afford is a 4-channel, you can always sell it at a later date to help fund the bigger and badder. Always glad to help if I can. Garry