I just went the other way, dumped the Spektrum and went to Futaba. The Spektrum is a decent radio but it had a few things that irritated me. First off, that sattelite reciever can be a pain in some airplanes. Secondly, I hate the DX-7 antenna, it sits up there on a brittle plastic post sort of thing and is easilly broken. Third, I had 2 brand new receivers out of the box that did not work and had to be sent to Horizon for repair (Horizon was OUTSTANDING though and took care of it immediately, no questions asked). Fourth is the battery power requirement. Fifth is those stupid little binding plugs. Sixth, the thing is slippery as can be if you have any oil or sweat on your hands. Seventh, doing various simple mixes for dual aileron or elevator servos is just plain wierd to program in my opinion.

The one thing I did like was the model match feature.

I bought a Futaba 8FG. Much easier to program, easier receiver mounting, a more compact transmitter with a better layout, etc.

As mentioned, do a forum search and see how many problems you find with binding, programming, "brown out" and other Spektrum subjects. I see very few posts regarding linking or other issues with the Futaba system.

A lot of guys seem to like the new Airtronics 2.4 radios too but I personally have no experience with them.