well, i'm biased, as i love the BR line of helis, so i think they're totally worth it. they're marketed towards younger kids, but honestly, there's a lot of little things that need to be done to keep the heli flying properly, things that most younger kids wouldnt know how to do, so i think its more for people like us!
they go forward very slowly, if at all, the motors can burn out pretty quickly (unless its the new KA-50 BR), the rotors can break and the lipo can fail, but i still love it, they're fun to tinker with. the mini BR being sold at Radio Shack is pretty darn good i think, better than the BR, worth the 50 bucks in my opinion. here's a thread on it:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_4219729/tm.htm
nick