I flew the EP for the first time yesterday (first RC flight ever). I have spent a couple of weeks on the RealFlight sim. I had an instructor on a buddy box.

My general feeling was that it was a well behaved predictable and nice trainer that will certainly keep me happy for some time to come. As far as all the "training wheels" go, first thing that happened when I got to the field was that the instructor told me to remove the speed brakes and the AFS. Even with these features removed I personally didn't feel that it was too much to handle for a first flight.

As far as value for money... I really can't comment as I have never flown any other trainer, yes it probably is one of the more expensive trainers out there, but I also feel that you get what you pay for, for instance it comes with a nice 6-channel Futaba transmitter which allows for you to grow a little and still use the same controller.

The only weakness I could see was that it seems a little heavy and under powered at take off. Once it gets going, it flies fine but it lacks in acceleration, take off roll was long and even then initial flight and climb was a little wobbly. Reading the manual it states that "After initial flights the 10x5E propeller can be replaced with a 10x7E for more power". I will certainly do that even before my next flight, it is easier to have the power and not need it than to need it and not have it.

Assembly was easy, the only part of the instructions that wasn't very clear was how to secure the battery packs. I ended up buying some adhesive Velcro and glueing a strip to the bottom of the battery tray and then on the battery packs. The factory set trims were off by about a mile! The elevator, rudder and nose wheel steering needed to be adjusted a lot. Also after the first flight my instructor advised me to decrease the sensitivity of the nose wheel steering. It was set at max sensitivity (push rod installed in the hole furthest from the servo on the clevis), I moved it to the minimum sensitivity and still there was plenty of throw available for taxi and take off.