Yea DW bout ecosystems Ur not locked in, but if you want the most freedom and you don't mind the form factor, Tx16s imo way to go. You can fly drones and planes with that multi-protocal module and there's enough switches for any build you can dream. Upgrading to Crossfire or ELRS is not an expensive expansion down the line. Also, I found this worked excellent for me, but I worked my way up to a 5inch. Those things are scary and expensive to crash. I started with a mobula 6, then I got a DarwinFPV BabyApe, and only a few weeks ago I got a nazgul5 6s. Also I found that reddit and YouTube vids area solid place for info, just try cross reference info using multiple sources. Also, I'm doing an engineering degree and knowing circuits defo helps your confidence to fix shit and know what fat you can trim off in terms of budget. So take a brilliant course on circuits or somthing that really helps with your confidence in buying stuff and especially when it comes to charging batteries. That is not a cheap endeavour, but for example instead of buying a $100 discharger I got a phat resistor and a PC fan whipped up a quick custom PCB so it flips a switch when voltage gets to a predetermined amount. Boom. $30 discharger. Same with power supply, you can use a refurbished server one if you know what Ur doing and you can sometimes pick them up for like 10 or 20 dollars instead of the hundreds you'd have to fork out for a consumer bench power supply which will push the 500W U need.