Yea, I was actually thinking of one of them for my new set, but eh' I decided no an dwent through a friend. But for a beginner I say yes, heck, even intermediate. Just get decent cymblas and new hardware probably like upstroke said along with new heads probably perty soon and it'll be a perty decent setup I'd think. Another brand that's decent and half way new I guess is Verve
Music123 carries them and has a really nice lookin kit for $500 and comes with zildjian planet z's
I also was really close to getting that kit, but went local.