If you want pipes to hang on the wall, Asian pipes are great.

If you want to play, then something else is better.

Also, there seems to be this idea that someone who's thinking about learning the pipes needs a set of pipes to mess around with. I can think of no better way to ensure that you will never be a piper than to attempt to learn on a set of pipes rather than the PC. It is not possible for a novice to pick up a set of pipes and start playing. Breathing and arm pressure, the proper strike in, dealing with the drones - you can't do these things and learn the fingerings at the same time. There's a reason pipers start on the PC - by the time you get to the full set of pipes, the chanter play needs to be in muscle memory, so that you hardly even think about it. Davidlpope is exactly right when he suggests starting with a PC and the tutor (and hopefully an instructor). It will cost less than even a set of Asian pipes, and it will be more productive. The steps wgority listed are typical for what's required to make a cheap set of pipes even remotely playable, and are also often beyond the beginning player. I started out with a set of Asian pipes; one of the things that amazed me when I got my Dunbars was how easy they were to play. That's the sort of thing that makes a good "learner's pipes", not the price.

Finally, as to including this topic in the "Accessories" forum, I would disagree with you most wholeheartedly in this. the bagpipe is not an accessory. It is a musical instrument! You don't need one to wear a kilt and you don't need to wear a kilt to play one. I played pipes for years before wearing a kilt. If bagpipes are reduced to a mere accoutrement for kilt-wearers, then we are, as a culture, far poorer for it.

If you allow popular thought or the preconceptions of the ignorant dictate anything to you regarding bagpipes, then I might respectfully suggest that you put down the bagpipes and walk away from them entirely. You're playing them for the wrong reason. The only reason to take up any instrument is to play them because you love the music that comes from them. There is no other reason. - wgority
Absolutely. And I would add, that if you love the music that comes from an instrument and wish to be part of making that music, it is a good idea to follow the steps that have been proven to make musicians. Pipers don't tell everyone who wants to be a piper that they have to start on the PC because it's some sort of bizarre fraternity initiation; we do it because we've seen, either in our own piping journey or in others', what the result is for people who thought they could just pick up the pipes and start playing. It's not pretty.