I recently purchased a Corona from a Hobby Store and have been flying it for several weeks (I too am a beginner). It is VERY durable - I've flown it in my garage and banged into various objects with no harm done - the rotor blades are flexible and do not break. I've ordered parts directly from LMH and they arrived within a couple days. The Corona is too big to fly indoors. The only parts I needed to buy thus far is the boom ($9.99) because it bends after tail strikes, however I found out how to minimize dents in the boom. The Corona is easy to build and maintain/repair.

I considered a Hummingbird but I felt it was too small to fly outdoors. Even in a mild wind the Corona is tough to handle for me (a relative beginner), I imagine a Hummingbird would be worse outdoors.

I suspect that the Hummingbird is cheaper to operate, as it requires smaller batteries. I've been purchasing 7 cell 3300 MAH NIMH battery packs for the Corona at a cost of $60 each - pretty steep, but I get 9-10 minute flights.