I recently purchased a Hobbyzone Firebird Freedom, and I am very pleased with it. I practiced with a demo of Real Flight G3, and took it out to the field. It might have helped too that I have real airplane experience (although the reverse orientation thing was tough to adapt to).

Anyway 4 kids and two career family I was greatful to be able to get into the hobby without build time. Hopefully I can do that later.

I have to agree with those who say skip the Anti Crach Technology (ACT). My first flight resulted in a fly away which I am 99% sure was caused by the ACT. Fortunately I was able to recover the plane about 1/2 mile from the take off point. It does appear to hinder the ability to control the plane. True it didn't crash, but I couldn't get it to turn either. Once I turned ACT off I enjoyed 4 successful flights. I am excited to get out and try it again. I understand from reading that ACT seems to help on the commander? But I would stay away from using it on the Freedom.

We did have some crashes the freedom was relatively easy to patch up and fly again.