If you've never ever flown an R/C before, I'd recomend starting off with a $30.00 Wattage "Rookie". It's good for learning throttle and rudder. It takes lots of crashes and can be repaired quickly with 5 minute epoxy. Comes with it's own controller (transmitter). The plane's lithium recharges on the back of the controller. Even now, I never go anywhere without it. A bunch of us at work ar flying them. Total investment is $30.00 + 6 AA batteries. They say light breezes but I've flown it in much more. Stay away from K-mart/WalMart "crash & trash" flyers. They break easily.
I also fly a Clancy Lazy Bee RTF. There are always sales for these for about $100 bucks, radio included. Mine flew great but would get so high very fast. And seemed senstive on pitch. Now I Start out with about 80% to 90% power and it climbs slower and not so sensitive. Landings were never good at first. I fixed it a lot with 5 minute epoxy. But it's survived my learning curve. Today marked a milestone for me. It was the first time I used both batteries. I had 5 flights. And every landing was great. The last one at my feet! I took wifey out with me this time. I got her going on the rookie. She had fun, but it didn't grab her the way it did me.
On one flight today, there was a bunch of seagulls circling overhead. I thought maybe it's a thermal but it turned out my 2 year old son dropped a bunch of butter crackers and they were just waiting for him to get out of the way.
You want to see an easy electric glider RTF video? If I had to do it all overagain, I might get this one. But I'm drawn to the glider part of this hobby more and more. www.hobby-lobby.com/easystar.htm The owner of the local hobby shop recomends the "slow stick" Which is about $35.00 but when you get everything you need to make it fly it's about $200.00. But it's a significant airplane and looks to be a slightly better flyer than the lazy bee. Of course there are many many great planes out there to start on. Your mileage may vary.
It's better if you have someone experienced to bail you out of trouble. Nothing worse than to have your $200+ investment in a pile of rubble. I'm sure this hobby looses many people that way. Good luck and keep us posted!
Oh yeah, You can get the lazy bee at a lot of places. I got mine and the rookie at www.hobbypeople.net .