I'd buy the V929 or V949 to practice with and wait for the Phantom to arrive. I've owned several micro quads and built several from scratch and kits using KK2 and MultiWii boards. The Phantom tops them all for what you want to do. The GPS and failsafe features are extremely beneficial and work right out of the box. Trying to get them all working right when you build it yourself is a royal pain in the ass and you don't end up saving much.