I have £500 i got for my 18th a few weeks ago, i have always had an interest in rc helis and currently own a nitro stadium truck and a 1/18th electric truck. I wanted to get a heli in the past but tbh i felt i wasnt ready for one. Now that i am a bit more grown up i want to get my first heli, one that i can start off with as a starter and upgrade to pro level so the trex seems ideal.

Heres the deal ive found which comes to £500! ~ http://www.helihobby.com/html/trex_helicopter.html Its the T-Rex 450XL CDE Spectrum Package, im not sure what the differance is between the CDE version and the other models.

Please, any advice welcome - Are there better helis out for the price range i am looking at? Do i really need a simulator? Can the transmiter be used with a sim if i buy a sim alone?

With the exchange rate you should be able to get a complete Trex from www.techmodels.com . Joe has a few 450SE trex on sale for a heck of a price...

I started with a cheaper heli 450S and wish I had gotten all the metal upgrade of the SE. Less stuff breaks in a crash. Also I recommend reading this guys training advice...good stuff (no sim needed).

http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html

this guy has done his homework...