R22/44? If you stand back and look at what you're trying to achieve, I don't think cost comes into it, so much as safety.
I suggest that all Robinson pilots watch the Robinson safety video. Order from Robinson's website; if you are in the UK, it's only $55 including shipping, which is cheap when you consider what you can learn from it. It's has a series of sobering clips in it. Forget the Davtron, and whether the lever is fully down. Learn how to enter auto! My experience with students is that they are inevitably slow to get that lever down, and as time passes since getting their PPL, they become less and less able to enter auto, turn into wind and find a field, let alone keep the Nr under control and demonstrate the potential to carry out a safe landing. (Is that too long a sentence?).
Back to my first paragraph and cost - the 44 may be more expensive, but I believe it's safer and more manageable for a low time pilot - more power and more potential Nr when you need it (ie without an engine!)
Cheers, WW