Personally I have found pattern to be a little easier to get involved with. I was able to get a Venus II and OS 120AX and have a setup that is competitive through the first two classes for only a few hundred dollars. When looking into IMAC, I found that nothing under 25% would be very competitive, and even that would be a bit small for the higher level classes.

As far as competitions, I've been in two pattern contests and only competed against 3 people total. However, one contest was during a Hurricane and the other was the weekend before NATS. But, there were plenty of pilots in the upper categories to watch and to work with. I feel that all the traveling and expenses has been totally worth it.

All that being said, I've got a ~25% Yak and plan on getting involved with IMAC this coming summer, and am excited for that. I don't see a van or trailer, or an apartment that will fit a 40% plane in my near future, so I'll probably focus my efforts on really competing in Pattern, but it will be fun to do both.