That's a myth. It takes at least a month or two to totally trim a plane. A pattern pilot that sais he built his plane today, and flies 'fully blown' with it tomorrow, is a bad pilot or an exceptional genius when it comes to trimming a plane. A plane that is released a month before the season starts, is simply to late for a really serious competitor.

@kochj: your statement really suprises me. Didn't you flame me for making the same statement?

If you really want 'top notch', you shouldn't be considering a 650 dollar wood built plane, that's not really realistic. Tho it'll probably be a fine bird, it wouldn't be fair to expect the same level of flying from it as it's $2000+ rivals.

If you want a budget choice other than the EF, and you're going to fly fuel, you should seriously consider the Element 170 in my opninion. Fuel you'll always keep it below 5kg, no matter if you get a heavy or light version, and it's a good flying airframe.

If you buy an integral; keep in mind that the integral needs some mixers (like 3 or 4) to really fly straight. Nothing big, but you will have to have the experience in setting up mixers.