While I tend to agree that generally "you get what you pay for" in R/C, I would argue that any computer radio (including FlySky) is a step up from any analog RTR system. As much as I dislike FlySky, I have had better luck with the brand when compared to horrible experiences I've had with Spektrum, and honestly I've pretty much sworn off both Fly Sky and Spektrum as neither brand will ever see another dime of my money again (unless they're bundled with a RTR, though I think I'm pretty much done buying RTR's too)
Problems I've had with FlySky: Over time, particularly running off-road, not sure if it was dusty conditions or high impacts from large jumps on a 1/8 outdoor track... the Rx's would start losing their bind, and this problem got progressively worse until I had re-bind the Rx daily. After replacing the Rx with a new unit, the problem was resolved, but was short lived until a few months later the exact same issue happened until I replaced the Rx again which made owning the brand far too expensive to maintain because I was operating 15+ cars in my collection at the time. I did find that my on-road cars were almost problem-free so I was able to slowly phase out my FlySky systems.
Spektrum was one of those systems that worked great for 96% of the time, every once in a while, they would glitch... sometimes it was intermittent, and other times the radio was practically useless, sometimes it was a range issue and would only glitch in the far corners of larger tracks, other times it was line of sight issues and I had to hold the radio high above my head to get a better signal when the car was driving behind some track features.
I have tested almost a dozen different brands of radios over the years and by far the best budget brand that I can trust is Radiolink, I found that my consistency and fast lap times were within 1% of name brand radios and I never experienced any problems with Radiolink on the track, they have also stood the test of time over many years of use, to this day I still keep them as backup systems.
So is it worth buying a name brand system? It all depends if you want support for spare parts should you drop/damage your radio, most budget systems (like Radiolink) don't offer any service repair centers so they're pretty much disposable. High end systems also tend to offer advanced ergos which improve comfort and feel. Sometimes it can be really hard to justify the expense of a luxury radio system and Radiolink has really hit the sweet spot for budget minded drivers.
As far as centering goes, yes I've noticed that it changes between switching brands of radios as well as changing brands of servos too! Also keep in mind that some servos over farther throw than others, not only do you need to reset your center, you will also need to set your EPA's as well to prevent brown-out or possibly burning out your servo
Every time I install new electronics, I always like to keep my radio set to "0" on both the trim and sub-trim so that I get equal throw in both directions. I will take my tuning wrench with me and use my wrench to center the car, first using the link between the servo arm and steering linkage, then I will fine tune using toe until the car is perfectly centered.
Best of luck with your FlySky system... if you do mostly street bashing then chances are your system will do really well for you
