Aurora 9 2.4GHz Transmitter, Optima 9 Receiver

Reader Reviews
I'm in R/C for almost 20 years. I've experienced the AM era, the FM era, the PCM era, and finally the 2.4 Ghz era. As most modellers, I've started with Futaba brand, (AM, FM and 2.4 Ghz). JR with PCM, and finally Hitec in 2.4 Ghz. I've experienced issues with Futaba in AM, FM and even in 2.4 Ghz (7C), with very expensive crashes in all cases. with JR (XP7202) never has any issues, (except for the battery that dies after a year of use) but in 72 Mhz, there's always the chance that someone turn on a radio in the same freq, and good bye model. I was thinking about the DX7 (the 2.4 Ghz version of the XP7202), but I don't like some things like the fact that the receiver come in two modules, and cost $99.99 each. With the A9, after a year of use, never experienced a glitch or loss the signal, the link is strong and reliable. There is two modes of link. The radio has too many features, for me, some are useless, but there is some reasons that I found to be the main reasons to buy this radio system: Pros - Price, this is one of the best price/capabilities radio in the market, the less expensive 9 channel radio system. - Receivers come in one module, easy installation on all type of models. - Receivers has just one wire antenna, instead of two wired (Futaba) or two in each module (Spektrum) - Extra receivers at low price, there are models in our hangars, that don't need more than 4 or 5 channels or even less, the 6 channel receiver is available at 49.99 at Tower. - Very intuitive menu, easy access trough touch screen. Cons - The receiver share the last channel output, with battery input. It means a 'Y' harness in case that the last channel will be used. - The Tx battery life is short. - The supplied wall charger, charges the Tx/Rx battery at 80 mA. The supplied Tx battery is 1300 mAh, that means almost 20 hours for full charge in case of empty batteries.