The original poster who asked the question is either A. already furloughed or B. in year two of med school by now.

As for answering this absurdly old question, I think one person had it right. Once you get into training I would say that ANY airplane is easiest to learn if you put the effort forth. I would say that the Saab 340 is much more difficult than the dash 8 series especially the 400 and the regional jets and the 1900 is much more of a handful in the sim although more familiar from stepping up to a recip twin.

The systems in the saab are a disaster when compared to the idiot proof dash 8 systems and you fly the entire checkride on AP with the RJs and the dash 400 as compared to handflying all of it in the 1900. They all have their differences.

And to the person who heard a dash 8 was a blast to fly...the 400 is not a blast to fly, it handles like a tank and cant descend to get out of its own way unless you start throwing all you have out there and from altitude the props are not usually an option unless you really need them since all they really do is make more noise and do not add much to your descent, maybe a few hundred more fpm or so. It is relatively fast, climbs ok and has a good avionics set up except for some of its canadian quirks.