I haven't soloed yet, but I am looking into the near future so that when I am ready, I know what plane I should purchase. Also what 4-stroke powerplant whould work best with it?

I would say a resounding YES!

I got my Pulse XT after I had gotten very comfortable with my Alpha 40 trainer. I love my Pulse to death. I've torn the landing gear out a couple of time, but I've been able to fix it up and fly it just fine. If I ever total it in a crash, I'll go out a buy another one immediately. It's very fun and capable plane, yet very predictable and forgiving, making it an excellent second plane. It also goes together very easy.

As for my engine selection, I use an Evolution 46 and that pulls it around great. For a four-stroke, I'm not sure.

You are going to get a whole bunch of different opinions on the Pulse. I suggest that you do a search on here for "pulse" and you can see some threads on the plane from the past. I am self taught 6 months ago. My second plane was a Pulse with OS 46. Bought the Pulse because I wanted to fly warbirds, but it was recommened (by the experienced pilots on this site) to me NOT to jump into warbirds. I just recently maidened my VQ warbirds P-51D. For me, the Pulse is an absolute blast to fly. It is just plain fun. The P-51 flys completely different. I am glad I listened to the people on this website. I have the P-51 that looks really good doing fly bys amd basic manuvers. But I also have the Pulse that I can throw around anywhere in the sky, and just floats in for landings. Keep in mind that I have only flown three different planes, so I am no expert, but I really like the Pulse. Good luck with your flying adventures!
Pete

The Pulse is a really nice plane to fly, has some really nice features, and goes together fast. As far as a second plane, that depends. It's built light and won't take the abuse that some other planes will take so it depends on your expectations and how smoothly you land and takeoff. It does fly exceptionally well though.

A resounding YES.

I set up a newbie's ( 2nd plane ) Pulse XT a month ago, maidened it for him and trimmed it out.

I buddy boxed with him for about 5 minutes, let him take off and land once... then walked away.

He loves the plane and is now quite confident with it.

It tracks straight with very little yaw. Lands SLOOOWLY... etc.

No it's not a heavily built plane, but then again most trainers are not that beefy either.

But it's slow landing speed, when coupled with a low pitch prop make it an excellent second plane for someone who has already soloed.

Thats good, it looks very nice too, thanks for the help.

You are going to love it great easy flyer it will make you look great

Thats always good, how fast can you make it go, also, the recommended 4 stroke is the Saito 82.

I haven't clocked mine, but it's about twice as fast as my Nexstar. Tried to play follow the leader with my son on the Nexstar and I had to cut the throttle way back. But the Pulse does some fun slow speed flying.
Check out this post about four strokes on a Pulse.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_44...tm.htm#4460136

As I suggested earlier, you might want to do a search. You will find a lot of good info in here.

Forgot to tell you that the above thread has some links to some pretty good Pulse flying.

Thanks that helped alot.

I must have about 300+ flights on mine....I LOVE IT! Very capable plane. it is not a 3D plane...but able to hover and knife edge. Reinforce the landing gear area(inside fuselage) with Epoxy. I had some hard landings at first and never ripped gear out.

I was talking to a guy at the field today who was flying one. He loves it, and highly recommends it as a second plane.

Good thing, since I already bought one.

Yes it's an excellent second plane.

I predict that if you ever crash it somewhere in the future, that you'll end up missing it, to the point that you'll be tempted into buying a replacement, long after you've moved up to more challenging planes.

It's a nice plane to have in your stable.

Its become my "everyday flyer".

i'd also recommend it, only flown mine about 10 times and was very easy to get used to. i was going from a Irvine Tutor 40 and used the SC46 engine out of that, and its plenty quick enough.
i also mounted the engine with the exhaust underneath and it makes the Pulse look so much better

one of our guys is looking at one i told him it was probably a good one. from what yall have said im considering one too.

I would also say this is a excellent second plane, I went from a electristar to this plane. I am running it with the power 46 and 2 2 cell 6000mah batteries. Its a blast to fly and looks great in the air.