Hams, any opinions on hackrf?

[szatox]

I'm mildly interested in radio com, I've been occasionally looking at SDRs on the market and thinking about what I'd like to do about maybe joining the hobby, and I found this one device which _maybe_ would be a good start for me, but I'm not quite convinced and don't want to spend 500$ on a fancy paperweight, which is roughly what I'd need to cough up for the device and antenna.

So, hackrf.
+ wide frequency range, 1MHz - 6GHz.
- 8 bit ADC, I was surprised it can be this small and still work
- rx amp is said to be being easy to fry
- sold as a radio lab test equipment, it's unclear if it's only for legal reasons, or because it overall is a bad receiver with a very wide frequency range as its only redeeming quality

Does anyone here know this thing?
Would it make a scanner suitable for getting my feet wet? Is it sensitive enough to pick up signals form hams, weather broadcasts and so on?
Could I use it to snoop in on emcomms in case of disasters, or something like that? I mean, 500$ is 500$, would be nice if it had a second purpose besides being a new toy...
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[Banana]

I am still in the same situation and started with a simple USB SDR and some software. I've started (and still are) with https://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-quick-start-guide/

So far I do not regret it and it is a very good starting point to get the feet wet and get to know if any better products will be necessary. Because a good product alone does not make something good. And yes it works with linux. Haven't tested it with gentoo yet.
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