The reason I responded to this thread is that I'm expressing a point of view that doesn't get a lot of play for some reason. It seems that a disproportionate number of people on this group assume that everybody wants the fanciest gear on the market and that we will all end up there by choice some day. This is not true. Not only do I not have a computer radio, but in 20 years of flying models I have never wanted one. I have never built a plane with 6 channels. I've built several with 5, but not more than half a dozen or so. Sometimes the extra channel is flaps and sometimes it's a bomb door.
Some of us are just simple and don't like all the fancy electronic crap. The only reason I find that fact worth mentioning is that in spite of the "you'll want it later" advice seen here so frequently, most of the guys I've ever seen at the flying field were flying basic 4 channel sport planes and using basic 4 channel radios. Only about 20% have had computer radios of any kind, and this was at a very popular public field. Apparently the 2.4 GHz stuff is getting more popular now, but I've been out of the loop since I moved to the country a year ago...
I hate to come across as disagreeable, but I disagree with that statement. Until just a few years ago I never owned a ball bearing servo, and I enjoyed my planes just as much as the next guy. Now that I have a few of them I sometimes can tell the difference, but sometimes I can't. And I guarantee that I don't enjoy the cheap stuff less.
I don't want to argue, I'm just pointing out that it is a fallacy to assume that everybody else will follow the same path that you took. This is a very common fallacy, probably the most common in the human experience.
Tom, whatever you buy, may you learn to fly before you learn the fine art of crash repair.