Tim, a 1-35 (serial no. 33) was my first glider in 2004. I transitioned into it with 25 hours PIC time, mostly in the club 1-34. I flew 230 hours in it and did Silver and Gold badges. My instructor, UH, was expert with flaps-only ships, and made the switch from dive brakes to flaps quite simple for me. My first landings were not stylish but none were unsafe, and they improved rapidly. With proper energy control, the 1-35 can make a very steep approach (useful for getting into a small field over tall trees). Visibility with the nose pitched downward on final approach is terrific. Stall speed with full flaps is 37 knots, IIRC. I never had any trouble at all with the two-stage flap handle -- it's simply a process you internalize.

I thought it was a great first ship and great for beginning XC flying. The stout aluminum construction was reassuring and I felt the cockpit was sturdier than a comparably priced first generation fiberglass glider -- important to me as a beginner as I expected to screw-up occassionally. I liked the fact that it has a nose skid -- if I landed long and was in danger of hitting the fence, I had the option of pushing it over onto the skid to aid in stopping, which I did on at least one of many off-field landings.

I usually assembled Saturday morning and kept it tied out overnight, putting it back in the trailer Sunday evening for the week. If I still had it I would probably keep it tied out all season now, with a set of covers on it.

There were many things I loved about it -- little things, like the clever design of the locking mechanism for the demountable horizontal stabilizers, which provided triple redundancy. I loved the flaps for really slow thermalling.
The wings "oil can" in strong lift, making a distinctive sound, which I came to enjoy as the sound of being rapidly hoisted aloft. In my first and (so far) only regional contest, I had the only aluminum glider in the field, and people kept referring to it as "that thing," as in "I like how you fly that thing." There is something to be said for flying an "everyday Joe" kind of glider that doesn't raise expectations too high....

My least favorite thing was the relatively high control forces needed on the stick -- the result of cable actuated ailerons, rather than pushrods.

If you can, get the earlier iteration with retractable gear. I was only interested in one that had the forward hinged canopy modification done. With the canopy carefully sealed, it was very quiet. As many people will say, buy the best trailer you can find -- I actually traded up from the lovingly built but slowly deteriorating enclosed wooden trailer it came with, to a nice aluminum tube type, and that made a big difference.

I heartily recommend the 1-35. The handicap and performance is about on par with other gliders in the same price range or costing a little more. They seem to be quite desirable for some -- I sold mine in a week. You will feel comfortable landing it in a pasture, knowing it's strong. I think I might still be flying it except that I opted to get a self-launcher, for the freedom it gives me to fly when and where I want. My current TeST 10M has almost the same performance as the 1-35 -- if Schweizer had built a 1-35 self-launcher, I would probably be flying that....

Go for it and enjoy -- happy full-flap low-energy landings!