I have been playing pipes for about 15 years now. I also teach piping. I have owned probably 30 different sets in that amount of time. I buy and sell used sets, so I have had the pleasure and experience of playing all different brands.
But the hardest thing to do it dissuade someone from investing in a "cheap" starter set. I have on 4 or 5 occasions been asked to set a set of inexpensive Pakistani pipes up with reeds. To really get then to sound anywhere close to decent, I spent hours trying to smooth out the bores of the drones and then set them up with decent drone reeds. If I had charged by the hour to set them up, it would have been cheaper for the person to buy a good, used set of pipes.
Learning the pipes was one of the most frustrating things I have ever put myself through, (that is excluding my first marriage).
If you want to learn the play bagpipes, invest in a practice chanter, (again, spend the money for a decent one), find a teacher or a band that gives lesson and then let the fun begin.
Remember our motto, "Bagpipes, putting the FUN back in funerals."