I learned on a Tower Trainer 40. That was 10 years ago, and I still have the plane today. It's a pretty tough trainer, but it flies really well. As an instructor I've also had plenty of chances to fly the Nexstar too. If I had to choose between the two the Tower trainer would win hands down. It's cheaper and it flies great too.

As said above, if you get the Nexstar with all the gadgets on it your spending money that you don't need too. When a student shows up for trainer I have them disconnect the AFS, take off the speed brakes, and also take off the wing droops too.

Hope this helps

Ken