I am new to the violin and just wanted something cheap to see if it is for me, I did a lot of looking around before deciding on this model and so far I have been pretty impressed, I'm by no means an expert but if you are looking to buy this then I would assume that you aren't either.
FIrst impressions are good, as always a quick delivery to the UK and well packaged. The case feels quite robust, upon opening everything is held neatly. Upon the first inspection the violin appears to be well made and tunes up easily with no slippage on the pegs, the fine tuners work smoothly. The bow feels a little roughly made on the shaft, but the components you actually handle feel much nicer. Once tuned I was able to get a note that was pretty clear straight away. The finish is a little rough in places but not really noticable unless you really look hard, just a few runs in the paint (in places you cant really see), the matte finish is really nice and tactile - looks great too. It needed no additional setting up and the intonation seems to be good.
The accessories in the case are good, the rosin took a little while to get through the top layer but once past that was fine, the cleaning cloth and fluid seem nice enough. I'm not overly enamoured with the shoulder rest that it comes with, it feels a little cheap and I struggled to get it into a comfortable position, but that might just be me.
As a beginners instrument I would say that you really can't go too far wrong for this price - especially if like me its something you just want to try out and see how you get on. I got a nice sound out of it pretty quickly which is always a plus for something new! I would definitely recommend this to new players.