My eldest son started off on a Halfords clunker. It was heavy and the brakes were poor causing him to lack confidence.
We then chanced upon a bike test day locally where my son tried an Islabike. I’d never heard of them so had no bias but I could see his confidence swell in the 10 minutes or so he enjoyed on that bike. I bought him his first Islabike soon after.
Although they are expensive the enjoyment he and my youngest son have had out of all the Islabikes they have had since makes the cost more than worth it in my eyes.