RE: best starter for the money
Ya, go with the HBK2 if you want a mostly outdoor heli. You will eventually want to up grade to a brushless motor and ESC on the HBK2 and people, IIRC, seem to like a Kv3800 BL motor w/25 amp BL ESC with these units (this upgrade will start at about $40 or so not including a larger Lipo batt with a greater Mah rating). I change out the tail and main motors (due to worn out brushes) on my Blade CP every 15 hours or so and this runs me $20, so spending the extra money on a BL motor and ESC is not really that bad in the long run. I'm getting tired of changing motors and am now looking in to a BL motor heli with a belt or shaft drive tail rotor.