Deal or not, if you are serious... you do not buy a guitar in this price range.  And I do not mean serious in terms of wanting to really be a pro guitarist... I just mean, if you are serious in trying to learn guitar... do not.  These things are always overly cheap and unplayable.  I have a few cheap models of Silvertone guitars that are for display purposes only (signed by artists) and, trust me, as a guitarist who owns many guitars, I cant even play these things. They are so cheap, the strings do not stay in tune, usually have intonation problems (cant clear frets and thus buzz and pop or never have proper note frequences at all the frets).  They usually always feel cheap too and the feel does affect the playability and tone.  If you want to really learn you have to pay at least a little more and go for better brands.  I would recommend anyone serious in learning to never buy a guitar that costs under $300... you are just wasting your money and the problems and limitations may even frustrate you and work against you learning how to play.  Go for the brands that are made by the bigger dogs... like ESP's LTD brand... Gibson's Epiphone brand, or Fender's lower brand (Squire?).  There are other examples.  I am sure Ibanez has some good lower models (though I am not sure they have a lower brand name for their cheaper gear).  If you do have to go for a cheaper brand, at least then buy their top of the line models (this pertains to Dean, for example).  But for me, brands like Silvertone and Archer... are just plain no good for real use.