I am also a fan of the Hobbyzone planes. But  I am not  a big fan of the ACT. It does little good at crash avoidance until the plane is as least tree top high or more. By the time a new person learns how to get the plane that high with out stalling or over controling, he is probably past the point of needing the ACT.  
We have a ministry at my church where we  teach people to fly Rc planes as a ministry tool. We use both electric and glow engine planes for training.  We start most beginners out on the Super Cub and we have several of them.  We also have at least one of almost every other Parkzone and Hobbyzone plane. I usually turn off the ACT on any of the planes that have it. The Super Cub is a great plane for begginers and I have taught dozens of people to fly with it. I have converted a couple of them to Futaba radios and use trainer boxes with them. I also have Fsone flight simulator that I use for practice on bad weather days and also to help total Rc newbies develop some muscle memory with the sticks. Even with this, I have yet to put any student in the air for their first flight that I haven't had to take over control of the plane at least once to keep it from crashing.  
If you are dead set on teaching yourself to fly, the Super Cub is a good, inexpensive place to start. It is very stable, tough, and cheap & easy to repair. If it survives long enough to get you ready for your next plane, it will be easy to get rid. Super Cub is very popular, for a reason.