@ Carl. I appreciate what you're saying and you're right to give caution because while the machine is relatively cheap, there are certainly issues one needs to be prepared for.
That being said, I'm still satisfied having spent all of $450 to buy a decent, fully assembled machine that looked good and performed reasonably well with my (none) experience.
When I first started thinking about getting into 3d printing about a year ago, I was prepared to budget about $1000. I was happy to find the Da Vinci. I feel it's a great machine to start with. I've learned a ton in the short time I've had mine without the issues that would dissuade me from continuing my new hobby.
Now I feel I'm ready to assemble a Delta kit.
Still, some people are buying Makerbots at $2500+ a pop as their first machine!!!!
Win 8.1
Improved Da Vinci 1.0 with Firmware 1.2.5 and stock extruder
Arduino cartridge resetter and after-market ABS filament
TinkerCAD, Netfabb, Simplify3D