step one: take engine out of the box
step two: apply engine sealant everywhere you could possibly get an air leak
step three: break in engine

That is more my point... it should be the first thing you do... not after you're ready to throw the engine into the woods cause you've had it. If you have a bad tank then your screwed but it is possible to pressure test tanks as well.... I run the JQ and the tank did leak on me and I went right to a losi tank and she held tune perfectly.

I guess in the end I feel as if a lot of people ditch engines because they can't tune but it's not their fault. If they had access to someone or some hobby shop that was willing to go through it with them they would stick around for sure. But as you can see the hobby shop owners and track owners are going to mold the hobby as they see fit. More indoor tracks, more electric. It's easier to maintain the track and people can run year round. It's more lucrative, it makes sense.....

Finding a pitman at the track is EASY. Most of the reason I race is to meet people and converse. If you stopped because you didn't have a pitman then your track failed you. You should easily be able to make a core group of rc friends that travel and race and if you can't then whatever track you are traveling to will always have a willing person to help you out.

I hate to say it but some of the reasons for running one over the other feel like cop outs. I know you switched to make it easier and that's cool but I'm always left with a feeling that in some cases (not all) that minimal effort is the culprit.

I'd like to put some of you guys who switched in front of a 600 e-heli for your first time and let you go at it setting up all the electronics to work correctly. That would weed out the effort issue vs. those who give honest shots for sure. I know that took me quite a bit of grinding out on the laptop when I first set my own electronics up for mine, even though I had 4 years in land rc already.