I too had the same debate, however, since I have no R/C experience, I decided to go with Heliproz and got the 8103 and venture package. I think that will save me some money to get started and then I'll go to my LHS for items such as battery, charger, fuel and other incidentals such as repair parts after a crash

I've just started to put the venture together and the manual provided seems very thorough, including radio set up.

PS. I also have a question.
I got Ray's Authoritative book and it kinda seems over my head or perhaps to detailed and going the extra mile. Now should I make an effort to follow Ray's or should I take the simpler aproach seen in my manual