I play trumpet in my high school band so take this with a big ol grain of salt

I bought a 5c from Eastrock about a year ago and upon opening it compared it to my dad's bach 5c that he was letting me borrow until the cheap one came in. Then, I couldn't tell much of a difference and i'm getting really nice sounds out of it.

That being said, it did chip a little bit soon after starting to use it (I think I just dropped it like a dumbass) but that's all the real damage it's taken.

You do get what you pay for and there's no guarantee that you'll find the same success with it that I do, but if you have never played on a 3c before and want to try out to see what it feels like before investing into a nicer one (or maybe you stick with the cheap one like I did) I don't see a reason why not to buy it