I have to agree on the Sim. Most important money saving tool you can buy!. I spent 6 months flying the sim before I ever bought a bird. Bought a used Nexus 30 from a friend so my initial cost would be low if the sim didn't help they way iI hoped it would.

Training on the sim I was able to hover and adjust the real deal in three tanks. Doing piro's on the first gallon.

Get the G2 Sim!!!!!

I think the only tools I have bought for my heli is ball link pliers. I don't even know what JIS screwdrivers are and the allen wrenches that came with my raptor work fine. No sim either. I've been flying for 10-11 months and I am getting decent at aerobatics and I'm working on inverted hovering from high up. No crashes yet except for a minor incident costing $25. No balancer either. I borrowed a friend's to ballance my woodies when I started and then to check my SABs later on. Havn't needed it otherwise. Just recently I decided to invest in a Sirius Pro so I can fly more.

Oh, I forgot I did buy a pitch gauge too, but I didn't even have that during the first few months.

umm. I just started out with a concept DX in a box 12 years ago and used what I had laying around for about 300 bucks and flew the heck out of it . Then got 6 more heli's after that.. had to try them all.. but as for as what I think.. I saw no problem starting out with a lower cost to even see if I was interested in it.. My 2 cents! oh of course I had to get the UHP Futaba Radio! Computer. At that time it was the best.. To this day I still use it..

I started out with the Card Board Pitch gauge *LOL* And ya know it worked!