[quote='Just Me[_2_];951833']I'm considering purchasing a Ventus B. I'm aware of the "stability" issues, although some the extent of the stability issue seems to vary from plane to plane and pilot to pilot. I've talked to some people who say its not a big deal, and others who say its problematic. It's hard for me to know what to expect.

However, I was discussing flaps with a flight instructor and a question came up: How does a Ventus in neutral flaps compare to a Discus (I'm aware of the handling difference)? If you are in competition, flying a flapped ships, against other flapped ships, you better be an expert with the flaps. But if you are doing cross country work, are flaps essentially just an asset that is optionally available to allow you to slow down in a thermal or speed up in cruise.

He asserted that the Discus wing was considerably more advanced than the Ventus wing, and that you had to effectively use the flaps or you were actually better off (performance wise) with the Discus -- ie if you aren't flying a lot, you should stay away from flaps.

Can anyone compare the performance of a Discus to a Ventus, or better yet, does anyone have polars for a Discus and a Ventus (as a function of flap setting)?

Checkout the Dick Johnson flight tests at http://web.archive.org/web/200502061...es/Johnson.asp (hope the link works)
You will see the Ventus is clearly superior at speeds over 80Kt.
And no - you don't have to be an expert to use flaps - if you can change gears in a manual car at about the right time as any idiot can, you will have no problem using flaps. If you don't want to use flaps you are far better off with a standard class glider with a wing profile optimized as such.
A Ventus B is a great glider but there are far more suitable flapped or unflapped gliders in this price range for you to be considering at your stage of flying.