I have a Hitec Eclipse here but rarely use it now because of its limitations.
They were a fine radio in their day but they're were designed a decade ago and things have moved on.
Nothing starts an argument quicker than asking someone what is the best radio they should buy today
For someone who's happy with Hitec and flies mainly sport stuff then the Aurora 9 is probably pretty good value and their 2.4GHz technology is as good as anyones (and better than many, such as Spektrum/JR).
Lots of folks like Spektrum gear though because it has a wide range of different receivers available for it -- but some of them are pretty pricey.
Futaba make radios that some folks like but they just feel wrong in my average-sized hands. The 10C is a radio I could never use comfortably. The sticks hardly protrude above the front of the case and I fly lots of 3D so I really want a radio that isn't so thick it compromises my ability to get the sticks from one corner to the other real quick (as is the case with the 10C).
As far as eye-appeal goes, the new JR 11X looks sweet, but I wouldn't want to be tied to DSM2 because it was a poor performer in my tests.
I fly mainly with my FlySky/iMax 9X at the moment because it's cheap, robust and feels nice in my hands. I don't care if I scratch it or bust one of the switches by dropping it on the ground because I could buy a whole new one for the price of a single repair on my expensive JR radio (which hardly gets used).
I'd like to do a full shootout of the different 9+ channel radios on the market right now but it would cost a small fortune to do so -- and even if I did, radios tend to be like cars -- people buy what they *like*, not necessarily what's best.
RCModelReviews.com, just the facts.