Hey back at ya.
I can't see why not to train with the XE2. These things are nearly industructable and you say you've put in some time on the sim. You may want to get someone to throw it for ya the first few times, so you can have both thumbs on the sticks from the start.
I have an XE2 with a Mega Motor 16/15/3 spinning a 6 x 4 APC prop and it hauls. My son put a Hacker A20-6XL on his with the same prop, and both using lipoly batteries. We have a time chasing each other around.
Huge fun.
When I get time to work on it, I'm building a new one and I've made a big vertical stab and rudder for it just to see what that does for it. I'm also wanting to add some LED lights for some night flying. We'll see how it comes out.
Happy landings.