I've been training students for quite some time now so I've had experience with pretty much all of the trainers out there, including the Nexstar. If asked I will steer students away from the Nexstar simply because of the price. A lot of instructors, including myself, will strip all of the "gadgets" (AFS, speed brakes/flaps, and wing droops) off the Nexstar when it comes time to train the student. Now when you compare the "stripped" Nexstar to the other trainers out there I would say it flies pretty much the same as the rest of them do. It will get the job done of training the student done with no problems. So in my opinion why would somebody want to pay more for a plane that is going to perform the same as the rest of others on the market. In my opinion one of the best out there is the Tower Trainer 40. In an RTF configuration it goes out the door at $259 from Tower while the Nexstar RTF runs $369, that's a $110 difference. That $110 goes a long way to buy field equipment and fuel for most people. As I said, my choice it based on money here.

I learned on a Tower Trainer 40 myself 10 years ago and I still have it, and it's in flying condition. I still take it to the field every now and then and fly it around. It's a total blast to fly a trainer like this and perform aerobatics that a lot of people would say a trainer can't do!!!

Hope this helps

Ken