I purchased one as a back up machine to my Equinox 800 for water hunting. I did do some land hunting with it to try it out. It is a great machine for the price and very easy to use. My only issue is it loves iron bottle caps. I could not figure out how to make them not sound like a coin. To your question, I think because of the price point, how well it does preform and it’s simplicity that it would make a more than great starter machine. Other pluses for the price are water proof, solid construction and wireless headphones. Good luck