RE: Inexpensive and durable?
The cub from nitroplanes is another option, depending on where you plan to fly. At 37" and 17oz, it's not going to tolerate ANY wind though. Not that the super cub is a whole lot bigger. But in general, the bigger the better. The slightest breeze would send that thing off course, so it might be a bit more work to control the smaller cub.
By the way, scroll down a bit in RCKen's sticky post at the top of the forums and check the RTF section. Those planes come with controllers and are very much worth it if you can save up the extra money.