I'm just going to leave this here.
http://www.open-tx.org/2013/08/22/opentx-frsky-manual-en/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU4U4OUcamM
This is a roughly $200 radio. It is completely programmable and customizable. Any switch or pot can be set to control any function. And the mixer is very robust, so whatever it is you want to do, you can do it.
You name it--it can do it. It uses FrSky's ACCST technology, which gives clear LOS ranges out to 1 km plus on standard dipole antennas. There are a wealth of receivers available at various price points. It has two-way telemetry so the transmitter can warn you if you are going out of range or flying into interference, and you can set alarms on things like battery voltage. Finally, the radio has a JR module slot, so that if you want to fly small bind-and-fly models that come with, for example, Futaba receivers in them, you can buy a Futaba-compatible JR module and put it in the back of the radio and fly them. Finally, the radio is very modular. All of the switches and pots plug into the board so if they break, they can be replaced easily--no soldering. It is, in my opinion, the last radio almost anyone would have to buy.
The Turnigy 9xr or 9xr Pro are good competitors to the Taranis, at a slightly lower price point. Their hardware not quite as polished as the Taranis and it lacks the side pots. Both radios use essentially the exact same software, so that is a wash. The Taranis can actually do up to 32 channels by using its built in radio AND the JR module at the same time--but this is a feature that very few people will ever use.
When I first started getting into the hobby, I was really put off by the price of high-end transmitters. I am a hacker at heart, so I knew that I wanted lots of channels and robust programmability. These radios were a breath of fresh air. I have the 9x (not the 9xr) and have had to do a lot of hacking and soldering on it to basically make it into a Franken-9xr. I have probably $120 into the radio total, and I love it.
I hear about people wanting to do flaperons or whatever, and if their radio doesn't support it--sorry! There is a popular radio from a major manufacturer whose name I don't remember that only supports two mixes total. Two mixes! How will I set up my "half flaps for takeoff, without elevator trim; full flaps for landing, with elevator trim and spoilerons when I flip the aileron switch; pot 3 controls flaps during cruise, with elevator trim, and spoilerons are prohibited from going up during cruise" mix. I can't imagine how limited I would feel on a lower-end radio from a major manufacturer. At the same time, $600, $800 for a transmitter?! That's, like, two whole models I could buy, on top of what I have in my existing transmitter. Forget it.
In addition to Aloft Hobbies, readymaderc.com also sells the Taranis, if you want to comparison shop. I think those are the two main vendors of FrSky stuff in the U.S. I don't know of any others, although I'm sure someone will quickly correct me if I'm wrong.
