The phantom is great at what it was designed for, which is a flying camera platform. As someone else said, it is completely different than flying an fpv racer mini quad. Maybe 5% of what you learn on a phantom will translate into skills for flying an fpv racer, they are THAT different! Having said that, I can't recommend this new hobby enough - I have so much fun flying in different places, and it is a real adrenaline rush.
I came across them around October, and spent about 5 months buying parts here and there, until I was finally able to get everything and start building it.
It is a very technical hobby, with lots of tinkering and troubleshooting - and that's before you even get up in the air!
I would definitely recommend buying fpv freerider - it is very cheap and you will learn so much! Watch all the videos by Joshua Bardwell about learning FPV using freerider, and practice, practice, practice. Learn with rate mode straight away, forget about stabilization mode, just bite the bullet and force yourself. It will seem extremely hard at first, but it will be worth it. I hook up my transmitter and my goggles to my pc, it is very similar to the real thing, and most importantly you learn muscle memory.
When it comes to buying equipment, as with most things, you get what you pay for. For me it probably cost close to $1000 in parts, but that was for everything. Remember you are talking about the frame, motors, electronics, fpv system, hd camera (optional but you will want it eventually), batteries, charger (multi if possible), controller, goggles, and spare parts. There is a high cost to get started in this hobby, but a relatively low cost to maintain it. The options when it comes to building mini quads are almost endless, but try not to go cheap - you will end up with a bad experience that will put you off the hobby.
You could buy a pre-built quad for say $400, crash hard the first day out, and not be able to fix it because of proprietary parts - much better to build it yourself and learn all kinds of invaluable information in the process. An excellent resource is to search for rcmodelreviews on youtube, and watch his build videos.
I would encourage anyone interested in learning more about this to go to rcgroups.com and read up on the following: betaflight, blheli, esc's, flight controllers, 2204 and 2204 motors, vtx's, receivers, taranis, fatshark goggles, headplay hd (i have these). That's all I can think of for now.
One final piece of advice, buy lots of props! They are very cheap and you will break lots of them as you are learning. Find a big open field and practice all of the basics over and over.
I have only been flying FPV since April, but if you want to take a look at my video you will see what a few months of practice will do. When you see the crash at the end, think of how much that would cost you on a phantom. It cost me about $1 - I broke 2 props.
You will not regret getting into this new hobby. PM me if you have any questions.
For some fun fpv videos, go check out Rotor Riot. Those guys have a blast!
MJ