ORIGINAL: Strat2003
A long time ago one of the car magazines did an article about the need for a $1000 new car. (I TOLD you it was a long time ago, lol). They came to the conclusion that there wasn't much of a market for that because you could get a pretty nice used car for that price.
I think a less-expensive entry level pattern plane might run in to the same problem. There are used pattern planes out there, in good condition, nearly fully equiped and even trimmed for $1000. That's the route I took when I decided to move up from Sportsman.
At the Sportsman level the learning curve is so steep that the airplane itself isn't as important.
This is so true. In Sportsman, and a lot of times, Intermediate, it's not the 2x2 plane that wins, it's the pilot that has control of the plane that wins. A .50 or 1.10 sized plane is perfect in these classes as long as you know how to fly.