MOW, I'm on my second Hobby Zone plane, an Aerobird Challenger. My son had a Firebird and he wasn't into it, and I had a Commander (2ch) before this. The folks at HZ have a pretty good thing going. The planes are inexpensive, they come ready to go out of the box (with maybe 20 minutes of prep and battery charging). The best part is, at least with these planes (as stated above) you won't be dropping huge amounts of money into the hobby, and you can potentially be buying and flying in the same day (within hours). The Commander really flies itself for the most part. It will teach you throttle control, and how to line up for a landing. You can pretty much just release the sticks, or add very little input to get out of any trouble. If you stick with HZ, then advance to their Park Zone line, you can go all the way up to a 4 channel acrobat. Give them a good look. A LOT of RC "pilots" got their start on "toys" like this, they just won't admit it. It's kind of humbling to own up to a "toy" plane when you have this fast burner in your hangar after YEARS of practice. Those slow sticks and others are good planes too, all those people can't be wrong, but by the time you get it in the air, I will have flown two or three batteries out of my Commander. The all-in-one box thing is hard to beat. If you want to immerse yourself in the hobby and get into building your own planes, deciphering motor/ ESC/ battery combos and the sort there is PLENTY of time for that in the futire. Go with a sure thing for right now. After owning it and flying it ito trees, light posts, birds, and myself (long story), I have to give the endorsement to the Commander. -Paul