Couldn't have said it better, great link. The second "topic" is a must read for newbies to 9x.
Royall, just reread your first post and sorry I miss read it. There is internal work required to upgrade the firmware on the Turnigy 9X, if you don't trust yourself with fine soldering see this
http://www.smartieparts.com/shop/index. ... e9c63e9cad a very "smart" setup.
Your Turnigy 9X comes with it's own firmware, good enough for basic flying but found wanting on expansion and some programming. To bypass rather than overcome these issues a new firmware, Er9X was born (
http://openrcforums.com/forum/index.php ... 28a1e7e849) and subsequently a few others.
The Turnigy 9xR also comes with its' own firmware, a copy of the community's Er9x program, having dealt with a couple of 9xRs for friends I still prefer the Er9x firmware. I just love being able to plug the Tx into my laptop and make program adjustments for expo, mixes, curves etc etc with out getting RSI from hammering out the buttons on the Tx.
It is easier and cheaper to convert a Turnigy 9xR to one of the community's firmware programs than it is to convert a Turnigy 9x to do the same thing, with the only difference between the two end results being cosmetic.
I would stick with the basic Turnigy 9x until you are convinced that you have a need for expansion, as a trainer or first Tx it is capable to do the job.