I too am new to flying; got my first drone about 3 weeks ago. I had my eye on a few different machines for several months, but finally on impulse went to best buy and picked up my p3s.
I guess as always it depends on what your purposes are; just for fun and learning, or for top of the line photography, etc. No, it's not 4k, but the photos and video are still very clear and impressive. As far as I'm concerned, I'm amazed at all this thing can do, particularly for the price, and going straight to best buy was definitely NOT the cheapest way to buy it.
The initial setup... All very easy and relatively straight forward. The stability, ease of flight, beginner mode, built-in simulator- all this will have you flying like a pro in no time. The camera and gimbal confounds me; if you watch the machine in flight, while you're making minute adjustments, naturally the drone might jerk and jump somewhat. But playback the video and it's completely flat and stable. Really, even at new price of +/- $500, what you're doing is buying a pretty decent GoPro and gimbal and getting the drone for free (and it's a REALLY nice flying free drone, too).
The Go app gets poor reviews, but so far i have no complaints, and am impressed with the communication quality between drone/controller/phone or tablet. The engineering necessary to accomplish that sort of communication between devices is amazing to me. I haven't gotten into Litchi yet, but that's another plus- you've got options.
Range hasn't been an issue for me so far- I reach 1675 feet (which is the default factory limit, I haven't lifted it yet) with no signal troubles, even around steel buildings and wifi. Keep in mind as well, that this is MORE than enough distance to lose sight of it, even at dusk with the lights flashing. Part of me would love to be able to reach out multiple miles, but I still feel like there's significant risk involved being that far away from your machine.
All in all, I'm not saying a p3s is the best option for everyone, but there is no shame in buying one. And again, I'm no expert on the entire drone market, but It honestly has to be the best value out there if you want to get started, without being a glorified "toy". After several flight hours, I'm still impressed by it, my friends are amazed by it. If it's just not enough for you, no doubt you can find someone to take it off your hands for close to what you paid, but I'm pretty sure you'll keep it.