ORIGINAL: twistedskies
Ok so here is my 2cents. If there is a plane out there that I would recommend it would have to be the nitro Alpha RTF! I have owned and flown many of these electris and they are ok at best. I feel by the time you start getting comfortable with the plane the battery dies so now you land and start all over. I own the Alpha and now she is on skis for the winter and it has to be one of my favorites to fly still to this day. I know the initial investment is a little more but the batteries for the electrics offset this investment 10 fold I think. Poorwboy just get the nitro and some paper towels and a bottle of windex and go out and fly all day with no down time to charge the batteries. I have had the J3, Folke Wolfe, Sky FLy, and a few others and I like the nitro way better.
You are saying this based on the lower end electrics you have flown.
The better electrics are on par with any Nitro plane out there.
It has been discussed to death the cost.The better electrics have very expensive batteries, that is a fact. However the average battery lifespan vs. the cost is about equal to glow fuel on a per flight basis. The main difference is you are buying your fuel up front.
As the cost of glow fuel steadily increases and the price of lipo batteries goes down you will find it is more economical to fly high end electrics.
Keep in mind I am not reffering to park flyers and the electrics I am reffering to are too big and fast to fly in an average park setting.