I fly with high rates! The catch is to make sure you have plenty of exponential programed into your control surfaces. I have 60% programmed in. You can set low rates though. You must have VERY good control & piloting skills (in my opinion) with this plane. What I mean by this is you must be able to fly with very slow & smooth movements. If your the type of pilot that "jerks" the sticks, you'll be in trouble. When I fly the MM I use SLOW stick input when traveling at high speed. Now when I hard bank this plane I will speed up the movement BUT I do it fluidly. Mind you, this is just me... I know how my plane likes to fly and I fly it that way accordingly. I have 3D planes for getting a little nuts when need be. My MM is for shear high speed & fluid flight! Loops, barrel rolls, high speed banks is where this plane shines. At 110+ MPH, you don't want "jerky & snap movements!

If you are new to flying this plane, I definately recommend flying at low rates (around 30% low rates, with 20-30% expo) at high speed. Once you've mastered this, start bumping up your rates while at the same time slowly increasing your expo.

As for the gyro, I leave it on ALL THE TIME! Especially where landing is concerned, if you have any wind the gyro will assist you keeping the plane on track. While my gyro has a heading hold, I do not use that feature! That could give you trouble! My gyro simply counters any unwanted yaw.

Don't let the fact that you've never used a gyro discourage you. Gyros are GREAT! Some call it cheating but I don't It's a great feature that seriously enhances the flight characteristics of this plane. I have some video clips and will try to post them in the next couple of days.