If you fly large numbers of hours the R44 comes out looking pretty good, but I don't fly big numbers, I bought my heli used and the main rotor blade issue is gonna end up costing nearly as much as I paid for my helicopter originally.
To wit:
I paid for a new pair of main blades only because the set on my heli had "calendar" timed out. The blades I removed had hundreds of hours remaining and were in great condition.
Then I bought a new set that, less than three years later, have had their "calendar" time more than chopped in half.
So if I keep this R44, I will have to buy a THIRD set of main rotor blades that I don't need, when if things were as they should be, I would still be flying on the original blades that would still have many, many hours remaining until TBO.
The R44, for a pilot flying less than 100 hours a year, IS NOT the way to go.