I have heard the good and the bad with them just like any item made nowadays and for the price you can't go wrong for an entry/first time gun to educate yourself some before you buy a gun for 3 times the price and realize you don't know enough about how they work or come apart. Would't want to bet my life on one for a CCW but I see nothing wrong with owning one.
Allow me to play the devil's advocate here.
I see no specific merit to choosing a specific gun as a "first gun". I don't think it makes a difference, really. It's not like you're buying a cheap first gun because you're going to break it by learning how to shoot and thus you don't want to do it on a nice, expensive gun.
Some people buy an older car to learn manual on before they go out and buy that nice sportscar they saved up for, which I can see the reasoning for here. Lots of variables for a new person and they may not want to deal with potential damage/extremely early wear to an expensive clutch on the sports car by choosing an old beater to learn on.
A gun's a gun. Not too many mistakes a user can make in order to break one, just need to know how to maintain it.
So for a new shooter, I'd just recommend something solid, reliable and cheap. There are tons of guns to chose from, which will meet those criteria in the $350-550 range. On the flipside, a Hi-Point can turn a new person off from shooting if that gun jams here and there and has issues. Can be frustrating.