I've got one of the Dean "Backwoods Banjos" as they call it. It's playable like a guitar as you say (chording) and while it's not exactly the same "twang" as a 5-string would be, it's passable for the occasional song I use it for. I got mine for less than half what you're citing by ordering on-line on a sale. The main drawbacks to the instrument are weight and balance (on a strap). I dare say it's some 3 times as heavy as my Martin D-35 meaning I can't just pick it up w/o the strap and run through a song; I'd probably drop it about half way through. On a strap it's not well balanced because the metal ring body moves the main mass back making it want to rotate the neck up and causing the strap to try to slip around your shoulder.

For the price I paid it's a good novelty instrument but if I were going to play a lot of banjo tunes or try to do any quality work, I'd go ahead and learn the 5-string.

SC