I bought a udi/rc quad and taught myself to fly with that. About 120 bucks and it has a small video camera so you can get a taste of flight videos. No gps so it is a bit challenging to fly. But a lot of fun. Like Jackson said the hardest part to learn is when it is coming back towards you, the controls are reversed. Right is left and left is right. It has foam rings around the props and I sure needed them! It was a blast learning to fly on this.
I eventually bought a DJI Phantom 2 Vision Plus. 2 months later they introduced the Phantom 3. haha story of my life.
The Phantom is so much easier to fly because of gps. It flies itself. I can hang it in the air wherever I want and walk away. It is really amazing.
It also has "IOC" or something like that. Some folks call it headless mode. In this mode no matter which way the quad is facing the sticks will move it the same way. Home Lock and Course Lock modes are amazing and take away the whole left right thing. Away is away and towards you is towards you, no matter what the orientation of the quad is.
But it comes with it's own set of issues. Because of the sophisticated electronics it is possible for it to just fly away. or just fail in flight. so there are all kinds of precautions and pre flight checks. It is a bit more nerve racking than I had anticipated but still loads of fun. Just be sensible and safe.
The Phantom 3 will be a great choice but I don't think it should be your first choice. Learn to crawl before you walk, or fly!
...my 2 cents