Well, I wouldn't go quite as far as that, but I do come across lots of posts by people struggling with mandolins, but I suspect that is because they have graduated from guitars and expect everything from stringing, fretspacing and actually playing to be like a guitar in miniature. They are of course an entirely different type of instrument and are played quite differently, linearly along the strings rather chordally across the strings, and should not be viewed as an easy second instrument, unless you are a seasoned fiddle player. But yes, they are a pain to restring, though not as tedious as an auto harp. You can sometimes avoid using those transverse string anchors, mentioned earlier on, by simply looping two adjacent strings over the same (parallel aligned) hook.