It's not for pros only, not at all. I'd say as long as you can fly a 4 channel plane you can fly a flatout. Durability depends on how you build it. Plus if you fly over a field of tall grass you don't need to land all that smooth at all... I mean, if you fly it straight down into pavement yea it 's gonna be toast, but with a good build it can take a little abuse. Not to mention I leaned how to fly on a little 2 ch Firebird 2, then played around with simulators, mainly FMS, and a little Aerofly Pro, and then started flying my Turmoil, made good torque rolls and knife edge the first flight, not to mention some nice harriers. I will say that if you plan on doing something like a blender you are definately going to need to sure it up... Trust me, I about broke mine in half trying that particular maneuver, allthough it was after a 250 ft drop... The main thing is that the hinges generall suck, you may want to build it using hinge tape instead, or trim the hinges so they don't need to flex quite so much, either way works. I hear alot of good things about the reflection, and having flown the Turmoil I absolutly love the thing. As for the battery just get something in the 900ish mah rating area, 3S. I'm running an Electrifly 3S 640 mah lipo, and after quite a few flights have come to the conclusion that it simply doesn't last long enough... I hope everything works out well for you, good luck!