I'm a newbie too, who is just about to try clipless. I think it's possible to get decent stuff at a good price, but you might have to be patient. I found $100 shoes on sale for 50% off last weekend, but I had looked around for quite a while. A few days ago I snagged a pair of lightly used Speedplay frog pedals and cleats for $39 on ebay. I would have bought different shoes if money were not an issue, but these will be fine for starting out and maybe even for quite some time after that. I did a lot of research on pedals and the frogs were my first choice, so the only compromise there was being willing to buy used ones. I ended up with a setup that would have retailed at about $235 and I paid less than $100 total.