RE: Switchmode BEC vs. battery
I have never seen the need for it honestly. The Bec is quite heavy IMO. I would never trust one on it's own.
I run one 2 cell lipo, and a Jaccio perfect switch. Lipo's are much better than the nicads or nimhs.. I haven't had one lipo fail yet as a rec pack. But I do change the lipo rec packs yearly in my planes.
Chris