I use lipo batteries with regulators in both of my pattern planes... so do most of the pilots I fly with. I haven't even bothered going with a dual regulator setup yet and trust the single with $2k plus airplanes through hundreds of flights.

As far as the cheep HK batteries go... I use zippy batteries as my main flight batteries on my electric pattern setups, currently have over 50 flights on one of my packs with no sign of any degradation, they seem to be holding up at least as well as the more expensive packs.

I am very happy with the regulator and lipo reciever setup on my pattern ships, on an electric I pull around 40mah per flight from the receiver battery so based on the battery capacity I should be good for ~50 flights... I normally still charge after 15 or so and always put in around 600 mah leaving plenty of reserve in the battery.