hmmm - the sims are definately a good idea - but i wouldn't say it was a necessity - unless u go straight into something larger than a micro heli, or if the heli is CP IMO...

I had a mini dragonfly, and it was ok to learn and get the hang of, but the mixing in the tail rotor wasn't good enough for me - it kept yawing out of control when you'd give throttle....

As you go up the throttle band - the tail would gradually add throttle (while being mixed with the main throttle) - which in turn would swing the tail out to the right as you give more and more - meaning you had to correct more and more as you got higher and higher (gave more and more throttle)

Dunno if it was due to me never getting the mixer board setup properly - or it was just because of the mixer -lol-

Persoanlly - if i was to get another heli - it'd be CP for sure with the tail rotor on a belt through the boom. I'd go looking for a second hand deal - something better than those 'toy' heli's would be a far better way to go even though more money is needed to be spent....

Its definately something i reckon you'd get into more and more tho - there's so many different tricks you can pull/learn - all ya need is a decent area to fly tho - that was my main reason for getting out of it.... i had nowhere to fly without getting totalled by the wind, except in my house - not really big enough after a while tho -lmao-