If you are a beginner, good advice would be to understand the importance or lack thereof of measuring throws.

It's really not important to set throws with anything more than "close". It is important to start with them near the mfg's recommended throws. But with Chinese ARFs being what they are nowadays, that's getting less and less important. Actually, it would be more correct to say their mfg info is not always accurate.

The point is that getting a throw perfectly set to 5/8" before you fly the maiden flight is really not important at all. Getting it near 5/8" is.

So if you're a beginner, and you're probably assembling an ARF, don't waste time or money on tools to measure throws. Also, if you are not a "detail" kind of guy who takes notes for later study, you're wasting your time messing around with accuracy that won't be used or developed.