Originally Posted by szakcajaru

A lot of "veteran" racers say all sorts of things, and not because they're the truth but because they believe them. But personally I've never seen a radio make someone a better driver overnight, unless it was from upgrading from a bare-bones really cheapie stock RTR unit, and I see way more people using radios that are beyond their means or needs just because someone told them they needed to.
IMHO if you trust the guy's opinion so much it would be better going with what he tells you to get because that's the only way it appears you'll be happy. Otherwise you'll get nothing but a pile of varied opinions for people here and chances are none of them will anty up to your veteran's.