There is a lot to be said for having what other members of the club have. On the other hand, someone had to be first and why not you.

A lot depends on how willing you are to go it alone. How willing are you to dig into the manual and learn how to do things yourself.

There is no substitute for understanding the principals of flight and mixing and such. The members of your club are your best advisors. However, figuring out how to do it on your own might be a lot of fun. In addition it gives you the chance to be the leader in this one area, if you like to take that leadership position.

In the end, most 4 channel radios should be able to fly most 4 channel planes. And enough pilot skill can handle coordination of turns and such. What the computer radio does is take the load off the pilot during the flight and shifts it to the planning before the flight.