Originally posted by wildnloose
My 2 cents: Point is from a guy on a very limited budget.
You should try to fly some of these planes before you buy (hope your club members are as nice as mine). Then you will know which plane suits your current skill level, then try to go up a notch.
To make my point, I am one person who flew the dog out of my trainer first (I did'nt feel right until I made it snap, crackle and pop, and who says that a trainer won't knife edge well...). It took me 4 months of searching to find my 2nd plane. I considered the sticks, 4*, Somethin Extra, Dazzler, Pizazz, Kaos, Advance, Contender, and Super Sportster (read that I had a chance to fly all of them first). While good for most people, I did not like the response of those planes (only a little better than my trainer) with the exception of the Somethin Extra.
I ended up going with a type of plane that most people would suggest for a 3rd plane, and I'm glad I did. With reduced rates it was as docile as my trainer and went head to head with a Somethin Extra. On normal rates it will flat outfly the other planes, and lets not even talk about 3D rates (have about a dozen flights on this new plane). I'm repairing this plane now (engine backfired during vertical takeoff, yeah, I know it was dumb...but boy is it impressive...), so I bought a used Ultra Stick to fly until my plane is ready.
All I can say is that I'm not impressed with it (even with maxxed out throws; I even went with full sized ailerons to improve roll rate), who needs flaps anyways, it already slows down to a crawl during landing.
Ok, let me back up, I'm not bashing the stick, its a good flyer, just merely saying that I did not have enought performance for me as a 2nd plane.
Back to the point, I think you should buy a plane that you can barely fly now on normal rates, reduce the rates and learn to fly it (even if you have to go the buddy box route the first few flights). You end up needing fewer planes to grow....
I sort of agree here, but think you should be able to fly it on normal rates, then turn the rates up to get more performance.
My second plane was an E.Z. extra 230 arf thing. The construction was that foam board covering type, but that plane would do it all (flat spins were really flat!). The reason it was a good second plane was that thing was basically a shoulder mounted design, and had a semi-symetrical airfoil.
And so you know, I was not an above average pilot (I am still pretty much average).
Essentially, it depends on your comfort level and your interest.