What kind of music are you going to be playing. If it's anything other than pop-rock or jazz, don't get a Perl. In the last 6 years that company has gone to shit. I've always like PD/DW, Tama and Mapex. The main rule I was taught when it comes to drum kits, there's a company's lowend, mid and elitest instruments. Buy the smallest elitest kit. There cheap because there usually just a 4 piece. With this you can do learn the basics and stuff. Then as you get more money buy more rack toms, floor toms, etc. The reason for this is you can mix different company's drums on one kit without having to spend extra money and having left over hardware parts and drums. Different companies excel in different drums and sounds.