My first grows were outdoor soil grows. Then I did partial indoor/outdoor soil grows. Now I am doing 100% hydroponics in a fully controlled environment. All that being said, if you do your research, you could start out with hydro and have success, it just depends on how much effort you are willing to put in. If you are like me and make this a full-time hobby, hydro would be the best way to go for your yields. However, if you feel like taking it a bit easier and getting started slowly, I would say soil or CoCo is the way to go. Just my opinion but I will also say no matter which you choose, there will likely be very knowledgeable people on here to guide you along the way should you run into problems!