Thanks for the replies... I wasn't really trying to start a product war, but I do enjoy hearing the passion of both sides.

Although I admire the passion from the FS One developers, I am still not sure about the training aides available. I like the fact with Realflight that there are modes (or, if you want to call them games) that make you fly through obstacle courses. Maybe I am thinking about this too hard, but it seems that would be a really good training aide for a beginner. I keep thinking back to my college scuba course in which I spent 3 months in a pool training through a PVC obstacle course while friends were doing 2 day courses in the caribbean... and I wouldn't trade my training for the world.

The engineer in me also likes the fact that you can design your own planes in G4... And then the dream about owning a CNC router - yes I would definitely have to leave my 500 sq. ft palace of an apartment in brooklyn for that dream to come true - but hey, you guys don't have 2.5 bars per block like we got!

This is my current plan... According to the internets, there is a hobby store in Brooklyn (Precision Hobby) which is within reach from the subway and they are a distributor of FS One. Hopefully, they will be able to demo it. I am purchasing G4 from a reputable place with a generous return policy. I guess I am going to just go on first impression, as I obviously don't have the experience to judge realism.

-j