I decided to start racing again a few months ago when we got a good place for indoor carpet racing. I went to my LHS to check out the high end radios. DX3R; cool radio...feels a little cheap and a $350 price tag. M11x was sweet, but again, a big price tag. Futaba 4PK.....same deal.
I checked out the races a few days later and there was a guy kicking ass. I checked out his gear and he was still rocking an older Futaba 3pk. All the adjustments you could ever want and built with a removable module. He said it was a PCM radio when he got it 7 or so years ago, and had upgraded to module to a newer 2.4ghz set up.
I looked the 3pk up on the auction sites and rc trader sites and found that these older radios are going for a huge chunk less than they where new (around $100). The older M11 and even the M8 are still being used and are all updated to the newest tech. I found my older 3pk and found a new module for less half the cost of the newest high end radios.
So dont think brand new is the only way to go.