I guess I'll throw my hat into the ring. I'm -still- learning hoverin basics, and started off with an AXE CP, which I upgraded with their "Gyro MOD" pdf. While only owning the AXE CP for a few months, I decided to purchase a 450SA, with the Align 430 Motor and 35A ESC, then I added a JR7202 (heli specific) transmitter w/285 Servos, JR G500T Gyro and JR DS3400G High speed tail servo. I took my time on the build (as I enjoy those aspects) and when I was done, I had a quick flight (hover). This thing was rock steady compared to the AXE CP. Personally I think that the 450SA is a better candidate for a first heli rather than the AXE CP. Regardless I had a little mishap where (no velcro on battery/frame) the battery flew up and struck the flybar and broke one of the arms on the seesaw.

I decided to rebuild the rotor head with the align aluminum parts (grey to follow the frame color). I just completed that the other night and the action on these parts are beyond the composite parts of the stock rotor head. I really like the Align 450 series helis in that if you take your time, they are easy to build and understand. The directions are very good, and that theres' a pelothera of parts availiable on the market for them.

One thing I will say now that I understand how all of the components work together (thanks to the Align build), looking back at my AXE CP, I can see that it was setup soooo wrong from the factory. the swashplate isnt level on the gyro's when @ mid stick, the flybar weights were not leveled and/or adjusted properly for a beginner, etc. It's like they just threw the thing together with no fine tuning.

Here's the bad points in the kit:

The stock composite seesaw is not strong, and I'd recommend immediately replacing with the align upgraded seesaw. The front drive gear for the tail rotor is crap, and apparently seems to spin off it's medal shaft. Microheli makes a gear that will attach to the stock shaft for about 15 bucks. Even better they also sell the whole shaft with drive gear for 29.00 on which the drive gear is fixed and not held on with set screws.

Otherwise, I'm glad I bought the Align T Rex. For me the toughest part was understanding how to setup the transmitter and fine tune it it what I needed.