I have a Futaba 4YBF that I've been flying for years. I accidentally knocked it off one of the impound shelves at the field a couple of years ago, and it landed right on the trainer switch on the corner of the radio. It busted the case and knocked the switch off the radio.

Plastic things aren't meant to be dropped four feet onto concrete, so it's not much of a surprise that it broke. Hobby Services' price list said it would cost $38.99 to replace the switch. This is the same transmitter that Tower Hobbies pays you $3.00 to take for free instead of just buying a flight pack.

I've just kept it and flown it with a slightly cracked case and a missing trainer switch. I have a Futaba 7C that I have set up for my trainer since the 7C has a trainer switch to use with my buddy box. The 4YBF comes in handy for sport planes. I've been flying my Goldberg Tiger 2 with it, and I was planning on moving the radio system over to a new Tower Hobbies Vista 2M sailplane I'm putting together.

As a happy Futaba 4YBF owner, I'd admit that my radio was more fragile than I would have liked. That doesn't mean that it's not a good radio system, just that I shouldn't be bouncing it on pavement.