Ed, I am one of those guys that got my feet wet by getting one of the huge sets on ebay really cheap. They work fine as long as you dont try to take to much in one pass. For me it was a good way to see what bits I would use the most. Now I replace the few burnt up ones with good bits from MLCS, Pricecutter, or Grizzley.
But if I were to do it all over again. I would probably start with a set from MLCS since it seems like there is only about 10 bits out of the original 50 that get heavy use.
http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shops...et15piece.html
Rusty
Link is supposed to be to thier 15 piece set-dont think it works