grizwald,
If you're just starting out, you've got a whole lot of different things to learn about. You've also got a lot of things to buy. It's tempting to buy cheap things. Things never change. When I started out 50+ years ago, I bought some McCoy engines. They were half the price of the OSMax's. I've still got my first OSMax. Those McCoys were worn out and thrown away about 50+ years ago. They ran "good enough" while they lasted. And they took some special handling to keep them alive that long. The Max basically taught me to fly because I could concentrate on flying, not handling the engine. I've had to rebuild it, a couple of times. But it was worth doing.

Overpriced? Say what?

In the last couple of weeks, I've maidened two brand new airplanes. Both have had teething problems. I've had to go back into both and reglue stuff and redesign and replace. Ones cowl hold downs are a stupid design. I had to redo that design. One's landing gear setup sucked. I've swapped out parts and redone the setup. The two engines for those two airplanes were brand new. I stuck then on the airplanes and basically forgot 'em. I ran each for a tank on the ground following the breakin proceedures (rich-lean-rich etc), set the needles and flew. And never had to give them a though while sorting out the airplane trims and balance and aerodynamic couples and design weaknesses. I got what I paid for...... in those two engines. I've had to lean out both of their lowspeed needles about 1/8 turn. They both pull like bulls.

The airplanes were overpriced. The engines were cheap for what I paid and what they're doing now and going to do in the future.