I have to agree with you that your two friends are a #fail.
I mean, if its true, your friends should have stopped at supposed fly away #2, but they both persisted and obtained a 3rd solo and those flew away.
yeah, I would have stopped at #1
Maybe with their rev a gps but certaimly not with the mRO gps/glonass unit. Solid as a rock and the updated 1.5.3 autopilot firmware is tried and tested.