Ok, I've watched this thread progress and I thought I would jump in and add my 2¢ worth. I've been in the hobby for close to 14 years now and I've never needed more than 6 channels on a radio until I started doing reviews. I needed more channels for some of the planes I was reviewing. So what's my point here? It's that not everybody is going to need to buy a 8, 9, or higher channel radio to fly with. Yes, I totally understand for some that are flying giant scale, pattern, warbirds, or other specialty type planes where having higher channel radios is almost mandatory. But for the MAJORITY of people that would be classified as "sport flyers" those types of radios are a waste of money. Not trying to point fingers here but to drop a few names like Minnflyer, CGRetired, Bruce88123, and myself all consider ourselves to be sport flyers and are perfectly happy with a 6-7ish channel radio. These radios offer more than enough features for what we need to do in our everyday flying.

Like I said, I have higher channel count radios for reviews. I have a JR X9303, and Futaba 9C (with 2.4 FASST module), and now the new Airtronics SD-10G 2.4 radio, but when I am out flying my own planes I have all of them on my good old Airtronics RDS 8000 2.4 radio. For my sport flying I don't need anything more than "basics" that a computer radio offers and higher end radios would be a waste of money for that type of flying. So what kind of planes am I talking about that I have on this radio that are "sport" planes? Great Planes Slow Poke, Great Planes Cherokee, Great Planes Escapade, planes built 60 size Kaos, Model Tech Mach Racer, and a Great Planes Cub. And with the new 6 channel receivers that Airtronics is putting out I'll be adding two park flyers to this list as well.

My point here is that I'm just trying to show that it's not automatic that every pilot needs a high channel count radio. For many that will fly they may find that they NEVER need over 7 channels to fly with. For those that do advance to other planes that need the high channel count radios there is absolutely nothing wrong with getting what you need, but for those of us that just like "lazy sunday flying" spending that kind of money is a waste. Oh, and if you ask my opinion on what is the best right now in this category for us "sport flyers"? Right now it would have to be the Airtronics RDS 8000, it's currently priced at $139 with one receiver (no servos). This is an 8 channel 2.4 radio priced at an entry level price. However, the Futaba 7 channel FASST radio, and the Spektrum DX7 are both great radios for those of us at this level as well.

Ok, that's my 2¢ worth here. Just throwing out a bit of reality to show both sides of the issue.

Ken