trust me, at first you wont use the switches but later on they will really come in handy
their isnt a 4-5ch (that i know of) that has 7-8 ch programming capabilities.
the reason being all of those switches are used to turn on and off those fancy mixes and whatnot that you will be useing.

also
why would you worry about breaking them if you would never use them to begin with (but you will use them). they are a lot harder to break than you think

get a decent 7-8 ch radio
i would recommend a futaba 7c.

i would stay away from 6ch radio's because they do not have the extras a 7+ radio has. these really come in handy.