RE: thinking about starting w/heli's
actually, I agree with you. I've always loved to tinker with things (probably why i ended up as an engineer) and I just found the co-axial ones too easy, regardless of whether it had more to teach me or not (which I really don't believe it did) it just didn't inspire me to get any better with it. so i spent more time on my sim and when I finally when to a CP heli (skipped fp) i was able to hover through a battery on my second try. my first flight went over my backyard fence and i brought it down too quickly.
nice flying site you have there.