ORIGINAL: darock
Would not have purchased had I known you would have to use controller plus your transmitter.
You don't have to. Just use the controller.
The controller is made by Futaba. My T4EXA Futaba appears to have the same sticks/gimbals and case as the controller. They both feel identical, so there is no reason to plug the T4EXA into the controller to fly. And the controller is close enough in feel to my JR TXs that I don't see the need to put any wear and tear (or recharging) on those TXs either.
Granted, the controller doesn't have the bells and whistles my JRs have, and it doesn't have exponential or mixing. Whenever I feel the need, I do have to plug a JR into the controller, but that's not often. But that's just personal preference.
Plus another important point is that it if you use your own non-computer radio with a sim and make trim adjustments you will have to re-trim your real plane next time you go to the field. Also, I suppose I would be a lot more likely to drop/bang a joystick (or my transmitter) at home than I would at the field. Nothing would suck more than busting your TX at home.