I see my "experimental" comment brushed some of you up the wrong way. Please accept my apologies. And no disrespect to Frank either. I too used to defend the R44 and thought it was the best thing since sliced bread.
I have personally owned 2 R44s in succession. Both were Clippers and capable machines. However, when I moved on to JRs, Colibris and Squirrels, I found these to be in a different class of machine altogether (reasons in my previous post). Sure they burn a bigger hole in your pocket, but if they were out of rotorspin's budget, he wouldn't be considering JRs against R44s anyway - he'd be limited to choosing between (say) Raven-1s and Raven-2s only. That's the whole point behind his post which started this thread. And that's why I suggested him to get a trusted friend who is experienced in budgeting JRs to assess the real cost of ownership so there're no nasty surprises.
I also have the safety aspect in mind. I believe the JR is still historically the safest aircraft mankind has ever seen. However, if I can only afford an R44, that is probably what I have to fly.