(your thinking, great...another one!)

I'm sorry, I looked through some thread and I see all kinds of suggestions on getting dual rotor and 4 channel birds (oh man, using terminology already!) but I'm interested in getting pretty serious and would like to start out on something I can take out and learn how to fly. I'm looking to do simple stuff at first and don't plan on taking it to 600' the first day and doing flips and other crazy stuff. I want something that I can grow with and will keep me on my toes. I seriously want to learn on a 6 channel single rotor bird and go up from there. I know it sounds weird, but I was recently looking for a challenging hobby that I can do outdoors and have always wanted to fly a heli. As far as crashing and cost, $40-50 isn't going to kill me if that's what your thinking. (Hell, I was thinking about buying a $700 nitro starter package...)

My questions are pretty standard. I've seen the links to the training sites posted here and on other forums and want to get a good beginner heli. I read on some forums that the small birds are harder to fly in the wind(?) so I ended up looking at some of the 40-50 Nitros. Not wanting to start off as a beginner crashing a near $1000 toy I eventually decided it would be best to get a nice electric for a couple hundred and get the basics of flight down before dropping a grand on a nitro setup. Eventually when I get used to the control and flight characteristics, I want to go with liquid fuel and get more serious with it. My main concern is getting an electric that will put me on a good learning curve to fuel and I'm completely at a loss as to where and what I should be looking at. I'll even take suggestions on some good sites for purchase. ( I looked for a shop in the local area and all the links or contacts I've found are broken or moved. )

Sorry to get another thread on "newbie looking for a starter bird!", but I didn't see one that seemed to point to a good mid to upper range electric learner. I want to dive head first into the sport and not start off one something that will impair me when I upgrade later. (If that even made sense!)