This is the module I'm using in my 9xr pro. https://www.banggood.com/IRangeX-IRX...r_warehouse=CN

There is some learning to do about setting up models but it get easier. As far as a charger I chose this one after a lot of looking and asking questions.
IIRC it was $80 from tower on sale with a coupon. I like it so far & should last me a long time http://hitecrcd.com/products/charger...harger/product

There are multi protocol transmitters available now , but I personally know nothing about their quality or reliability . Here's one :
https://www.banggood.com/Jumper-T8SG...r_warehouse=CN
Here's another :
https://www.banggood.com/IRangeX-iRX...r_warehouse=CN

Originally Posted by balsa or carbon

There are multi protocol transmitters available now , but I personally know nothing about their quality or reliability . Here's one :
https://www.banggood.com/Jumper-T8SG...r_warehouse=CN
Here's another :
https://www.banggood.com/IRangeX-iRX...r_warehouse=CN

Stay away from those for now. 1st impressions are really bad. I would not suggest any 1st gen radio or module. Let the guys that are really good at this sort things out before buying

Originally Posted by AlgebraicMirror

Hi guys. I'm looking to get a really easy beginner aircraft to learn on when the weather gets warm...

I know you asked Radian vs Sport Cub S, but I would suggest the original 1s Hobbyzone Champ. It is light, cheap, self-levelling and if you cut the throttle it will basically land itself. It was my first plane, recommended by a lot of people here on RC Groups. I flew it for a few weeks then put it back in its box and transitioned to a UM T-28, then a UM Polecat, UMX Beast...

A year later I took it back out and had an absolute ball flying it as slow as possible (it can fly at a jogging speed if its calm), or flying up high in a strong breeze, pointing the nose into the wind and "windsurfing" it, or just doing mad full throttle laps around my backyard trying not to get stuck in the trees. It can handle quite a lot of wind once you have some experience, and can be very fun and aerobatic in the right hands as well (definitely not just a "beginner" plane).

Slow flight: (not my video)

Hobbyzone Champ - Low and Slow indoor flying @ Hempfield High School (1 min 14 sec)

Aerobatic (not my video - I love it though!)

Hobbyzone Champ crazy flying (5 min 6 sec)

Originally Posted by balsa or carbon

It's a shame that the DXe's external PC/Apple/Android programming hasn't been that successful ...... it's probably turned people away from Spektrum .

No kidding. This is absolutely true. In fact doubly true for me, because as a computer engineer/programmer I know how easy it is to make a decent PC or mobile app. You have to literally not care about your customers AT ALL to let something like that get out the door. Then if you go two years and don't fix any of it, and have almost no documentation, with what little documentation there is being harmful because it's incorrect and out of date... you cross the line from not caring about your customers to having contempt for them.

If HH/Spektrum thinks just because I'm a new hobbyist that I'm unimportant and not worth giving decent service too (which is exactly the message being sent here), it's very hard for me to ever imagine dropping 300+ bucks on one of their better radios once I progress beyond the newbie stage.

I will add though that HH/Spektrum could win me back and keep me as a customer if they would fix this. If they showed me they cared, then I would trust them enough to part with a lot of money on a more expensive radio. But considering the state things are in after 2 years I'm not expecting anything.

I should also add that it's not just because of irritation with Spektrum that I want to switch to Frsky. It's also because I think the radio looks really interesting and full featured, and I like the idea of being able to customize it so heavily. So it's for positive reasons as well, not just negatives from Spektrum (although it all depends on whether these external modules are good... I'll do more research on that before making the jump, because I'd like to still be able to use the Spektrum receivers I've already bought).

Andy Kuntz from Spektrum stated the other day in a discussion on receivers their CIO had a lot of input to the design philosophy used which resulted in a series of products which required extra cables and a PC to update/change. This could be one of the factors involved in the issues and lack of effort on their programming apps for the DXe.

And speaking objectively, many frsky receivers are less expensive and the transmitter feature set is better....

Originally Posted by BoxCar31

Andy Kuntz from Spektrum stated the other day in a discussion on receivers their CIO had a lot of input to the design philosophy used which resulted in a series of products which required extra cables and a PC to update/change. This could be one of the factors involved in the issues and lack of effort on their programming apps for the DXe.

Well one would think if the CIO was aware of the app issues he would demand they be fixed. The rest I'm less bothered by.

Speaking for myself, I'm not a huge fan of having to buy extra cables (I've bought both the USB for PC and the audio for iPhone). But I do understand not including Bluetooth in a cheaper model to hold down cost, and I'm OK with that. But I do I think they should include at least one of the cables, probably USB, because with no LCD screen there's no programmability at all without a cable, and I don't think it's appropriate to sell a radio, even at 80 bucks, with no way to program it. But cables instead of Bluetooth is not a gripe for me on a radio at that price, nor is the idea of using an app or PC software instead of a built in LCD screen.

My issue is how terrible the apps are, and how incredibly not user friendly. They have the entire capability of a smartphone or PC at their fingertips, and with that power this could have been a better interface than even the high end models (albeit with less features since the hardware is less capable). An inexpensive radio with a really easy to use app could have guided people into the hobby and made their first experience very fun and unintimidating. Instead its the opposite, and driving people away from Spektrum at a minimum. Speaking as an engineer, it almost hurts to see so much totally squandered potential in a piece of technology. That iPhone app truly has the worst interface of anything I've ever downloaded from the app store.

Originally Posted by failboat

And speaking objectively, many frsky receivers are less expensive and the transmitter feature set is better....

I've noticed they seem super popular with drone users, but I've heard much less about them on the plane side of the hobby. Is there a reason for that?

Originally Posted by AlgebraicMirror

I've noticed they seem super popular with drone users, but I've heard much less about them on the plane side of the hobby. Is there a reason for that?

Inertia

EDIT - Drones are more younger people and more tech focus ... the older guys with planes are comfortable where they are and most often uncomfortable with doing things differently - exceptions exist, but IMO that is the norm.

Love my FrSky gear, though I also use a little Flysky and more Spektrum gear. But all of my new purchases are and likely will be mostly FrSky just due to value for money spent.

One other question for you guys since you all are so knowledgeable. The weather here continues to be terrible for flying (below freezing as far out as the forecast goes), and it's likely to stay that way for a while.

If I wanted to get a simulator to try to build skills that way, is there a way I could fly it while using my DXe as the controller? (I have the USB cable and the audio cable for the DXe). And which simulator is more recommended: Phoenix or Real Flight?

EDIT: Looking online, I'm guessing Phoenix would be the best bet, because it appears to be compatible with various Spektrum controllers and also has HH planes in it which would be closest to what I'm flying. But please correct me if that assumption is wrong.

Wow, found some cool stuff while I was out digging around online! I only have programming cables for the DXe, and I was afraid I was going to have to buy yet another cable for the trainer port plus a USB dongle to use a simulator. Until I found out Spektrum just uses a simple a simple 3.5 mono to mono audio plug for the trainer cable (that's one Spektrum decision I DEFINITELY approve of... using a standard inexpensive cable is awesome). I happened to already have a longish RCA cable and a couple RCA to 3.5 mm mono video cables from my old video editing days in high school. (I remember being really frustrated when I bought those, because I hadn't realized they were mono and they were ruining the audio on the project and I had to go back out and buy stereo, but now 15-20 years later I finally have found a use for them).

Then I found out that there is an open source application called SmartProPoPlus that installs itself as a human interface device/game controller, and can convert audio input from transmitter trainer ports into what effectively appears to Windows 10 as a USB human interface device. I ran the audio cable from the DXe to my computer's microphone port, and all eight channels immediately showed up and are working correctly. It's actually pretty cool, because it's got various bar graphs that show how the input changes as you move the various controls... you can see the throttle increase, etc. The only thing missing is the 9th DXe channel which would make my flap switch work, but overall that's not a huge issue.

I then downloaded the FPV Freerider Demo and was able to calibrate and control the drone with my DXe. So I'm pretty certain I am now flight sim capable, without having to spend any money for once . I wish I could get a demo of the expensive simulators like Phoenix and Free flight just to make sure it all works OK before purchasing one, but based on this I'm pretty sure it will. Windows 10 sees it as just another USB input device.

If you don't want to spend any money on a sim right now , there are some free sims available ..... such as FMS : http://modelsimulator.com and RC Desk Pilot : http://rcdeskpilot.com
IMO , your money would be better spent on a really good transmitter .

There are also free sim apps for smart phones such as Electric RC Sim Lite or Absolute RC Plane Simulator ( both for iPhone ) , for times when you have time to kill away from home ( like sitting in a waiting room ) .

And check with clubs/hobby shops in your area , there may be indoor flying sessions during the winter months .

Originally Posted by balsa or carbon

If you don't want to spend any money on a sim right now , there are some free sims available ..... such as FMS : http://modelsimulator.com and RC Desk Pilot : http://rcdeskpilot.com
IMO , your money would be better spent on a really good transmitter .

There are also free sim apps for smart phones such as Electric RC Sim Lite or Absolute RC Plane Simulator ( both for iPhone ) , for times when you have time to kill away from home ( like sitting in a waiting room ) .

And check with clubs/hobby shops in your area , there may be indoor flying sessions during the winter months .

Thanks for the suggestions. I just tried RC Desk Pilot and Picasim (have not had a chance to try FMS yet). I have to be honest, RC Desk Pilot did not feel even close to being real for me. The plane was moving all over the place without any input from me - not sure why. I doubt that's normal since so many others speak highly of it. Picasim had significantly better graphics and felt a little better with control realism, but I don't think it wasn't the most realistic physics model either. I was doing better than I normally would with a real plane, and it just felt a little too much like it was on rails, although maybe it was partly the model also... I'll have to experiment more.

I also took your advice and stopped by the LHS today and they had both Phoenix and Real Flight hooked up for demoing. Phoenix I wasn't that impressed with, as it also felt a bit like rails, but Real Flight 8 seemed very realistic to me. The planes acted the way my UMX acts in the real world when I try to control it. I would consider buying it, but I'd rather not have to pay an extra 80 for the InterLink controller that comes with it, and just use my DXe instead. But I'm not sure how I would go about hooking up the DXe to the software. Of all the sims, RF8 seems like it is the most apt to require proprietary hardware and not be compatible out of the box with transmitters/game controllers like all the other sims are. Does anyone have any information about how a DXe could be used with it without having to go through the Interlink controller?

The other two I've seen online that look like they might be promising would be FS One V2, and RealFlight X. I've seen a number of posts saying FS One has extremely good physics, and that's something I'd like, because if I use a sim I don't want the hours spent with it to be wasted. But I don't see much in the way of recent reviews or activity, so can anyone comment on whether it is still under active support, works on Windows 10, etc? As for RF X, it seems most of the reviews bashing it are from people running 10+ year old computers and expecting them not to have problems when playing modern fully 3D titles, which shouldn't be an issue for my machine. But I'm not sure if it has compatibility with anything other than Interlink, and I'm also not sure if the physics are as good... does anyone know?

By the way, I did finally make a choice on another plane to use until I get used to my UMX T-28: I'm going to go with the UMX Radian. I had $25 in HH rewards points, plus they had them on sale this week during the ultimate micro sale for another $10 off. All told I got it for about $55 dollars, and at that price it was too good a deal to pass up. So I'm set for April when the weather hopefully is better, though I'll probably get rained out a lot. But in the meantime I definitely want a sim as well so that I can get to the point where I don't crash it as easily.

Note: If I can ever get good at this hobby, I do plan to proceed with a couple other suggestions you guys have made in this thread.

1. I am going to do my first kit build, and I'm pretty certain it's going to be the mini-bipe. By then it shouldn't matter as much that it's not EPP, because I should be a lot better. And it looks like a lot of fun, and perfect for flying the back yard.
2. I am going to get a better transmitter at some point, once I have decent enough skills that I am sure I will stay in the hobby. I presently lean towards a Taranis with an Orange external module to make it compatible with Spektrum, but I need to do more research on that angle to make sure compatibility is good.