The rave reviews on the Marlin are true folks! Not only is it both forgiving AND a capable aerobat,  This plane can take a punishing with little damage.  The Marlin's landings in gusty winds were well behaved but my lack of skill still ended up flipping it and cartwheeling it and bouncing it....all with just some minor road rash.  A lesser plane would have gone to the hospital.  I LOVE this plane!!!

I love flying the Marlin because it tracks like it's on rails and the sound is great. No whiney fan noise just smooth air trusting out of the rear. Keep the nose high on approach and come down on the mains for nice greased in landings. One more thing; I had a slight problem with the nose gear as I was one of the first to buy the Marlin from Hobby Zone. I called them up to talk about the gear and they promptly sent out new and improved
gear at no cost. That is what I call great service!!

This little jet flies great,very stable in the air even without a gyro. Short takeoffs with flaps or will hand launch easy enough. Gear is rugged & doesn’t bend with not so perfect landings. I have many EDF’s - the Marlin is one of my favorite’s.

I really enjoy flying this aircraft, flaps at this price is unheard of. It handles great in the air with very good stability. You don't need a huge take off and landing area to fly this plane. The one wing construction is great and it is built to last.

Really a great beginner EDF. If you can fly a warbird plane, you can definitely fly this plane.

The Marlin is my first EDF plane I have been flying Warbirds and Sport planes since 2011. I would classify myself as an Intermediate Pilot . After seeing this airplane on Pilot Ryan and Captain Mike’s YouTube podcast and talking to Ryan he convinced me to try this as my first EDF plane. I have a lot of 4s batteries and didn’t really want to jump into the 6s realm so this appeared to be a good option to get started in Jets. Now for a review of the Marlin. 
Pros 
The assembly could not have been easier it literally took less than 10 minutes to assemble. 
All the screws are the same so no searching for the right screw. 
All the screws are 2mm hex no worries about stripping screw heads. 
The fit and finish of the pieces were nice no big gaps. 
Ample room in the battery bay for the battery, receiver, and gyro if you want. The battery tray has enough room to use several sizes of batteries and still be able to move the battery forward or back to achieve proper c/g. I preferred an Admiral 3000 4s 35c about 3/4 to 1 inch back from the front of the battery bay. 
Ball linkages on all control surfaces for positive control with no slack. 
Flaps for shorter take offs and nice controlled landings. 
No retracts for those who are newer to EDF’s less to worry about. 
Flight characteristics on this airplane are amazing. It does whatever you in put with no weird tendencies and is very stable in all flight modes. The wing loading is nice and light. 
Power is ample. It has plenty of power to do any maneuver with a little in reserve if needed. 
Good flight times. With my preferred battery an Admiral 4s 3000 mah 35c I could fly 4 minutes at 60 to 75 percent throttle with a couple of full speed passes and land with 3.8 per cell. This would allow you enough battery reserve to go around again if needed. 

Cons 
The nose gear strut wire is very soft and bends easily. The top wire piece above the connection collar will bend if you have the slightest bounce on landing or land on grass. The upper wire will break where the flat is for the grub screw after you straighten it a couple of times. 
The steering servo is also weak and should be an all metal gear servo. Mine stripped the first time I went of the side of my paved runway onto the grass. 

Conclusion
I would strongly recommend the Marlin to anyone who is comfortable flying most Warbirds and  Sport type airplanes. It is a great option for anyone like me that wanted to try EDF Jets but wasn’t ready to jump into the bigger 6s powered  EDF Jets. 

I flew the marlin off a dirt run way, it jumped up in the air with half flaps, in low rates. It flew great, easy to fly i have a gyro in and it made it look like there was no wind at all. It's rock solid flight even for a novice like me was effortless. All in all a great plane but you do have to fly it to a landing.

I have flown my Marlin 11 times using Roaringtop 2700 4S batteries with excellent results. The battery is positioned approx. 1/4" from the front of the battery tray. I set my timer at 4 min. 30 sec. and then land. I have flown as long as 5 min. 10 sec., a go around, and still had 50% left in the batteries. I fly around 60% throttle about 75% of the time and higher the rest. I thought the surface travels were very conservative so I set my surface travels at 50% higher than suggested and this works great for a intermediate level flyer like me. If you are a more experience flier then you may want to increase them, but start low and then go higher.

I been in the hobby slightly less that 2 years. This is a great first EDF and the flaps option is a nice extra for getting used to bigger EDF planes, if that is in your future. The flaps do not have any suggested settings so I have my takeoff flaps set at -55% and landing flaps set at 7% on a Spektrum DX8. I and the group at the field are amazed at how well the plane flies and I have no problem setting her on the runway. There are a couple of other guys now looking at the Marlin as a first EDF.

I am using a reprogrammed AR636A receiver with 3 flight modes. Not sure if stabilization is needed, it flies very stable in near calm conditions. I do have the receiver setup in 3 flight modes, zero setting in mode 1, and stabilization set in flight modes 2 and 3. Mode 2 has 40% rate gains across the board and mode 3, has 55% rate gains across the board. Priority for mode 2 and 3 are set at 110. The plane flies with no flutter at full throttle on those settings and is rock steady in winds to 15 mph.

If you are looking for an EDF, get this one to start, it has an excellent price and is easy to fly.

My jet arrived in perfect condition. I did have a problem connecting the horizontal stabilizer to the fuselage. If you grab the rudder and gently move it forward the stabilizer will shoehorn in perfectly.

For the maiden flight I used a 4 cell 2200 LiPo.  My clubs field is grass covered and is 600 X 300 feet, eliminating the need for flaps on takeoff. Ground handling is great with the steerable front wheel.

I was surprised at how easy the takeoff was.  The Marlin is very stable and tracked nicely even in a 5 to 8 mph wind. The speed and jet sound make it great fun to fly. To play it safe I set the timer to 3 minutes and measured the power remaining. After 32 flights I determined (based on how I fly) 4 minutes for the 2200s and 5 for the 2500s.

You will be amazed how far this plane will deadstick without landing flaps.  I used the right out of the box setting (about half flaps) and made nice 3 point landings. This is a great plane at a great price.

On the down side (and I'm nitpicking here) a front wheel the same size as the main wheels would improve landings and takeoff s on grass.  Also on one flight I experienced a power loss after takeoff which quickly disappeared.  After landing I noticed grass clippings around part of the belly intake screen and grass clippings in the tailpipe.  It might be a better idea to locate the intake on top of the fuselage.  All in all, if you buy this EDF you won't regret it, the fun factor is that high.

This jet is nothing short of amazing, especially for the price. It flies so solid, almost like my Avanti 80MM. Plenty of vertical and aerobatic performance, and over 4 min on 3300 battery. Assembly is easier than any plane I've put together, fit and finish is just flawless., you can't tell where the fuselage ends and canopy begins, it's that seamless. Overall weight was 34 oz with 2200 battery, not much heavier than my stinger 64, but I enjoy the flights better with this one. Flaps slow plane down to a crawl. Only weak point is the front landing gear servo, mine makes a noise when turning sharp and gets a little stuck. Has not failed yet though.

This is my 11th edf jet and this is my favorite, easy build, easy electronic setup, very stable flight characteristics, very robust landing gear, Hobby Zone has a winner here.....

The Marlin is my first EDF. This is a quality plane that is stable, easy to fly, and highly recommended. I initially had problems because the new receiver I installed in the plane was defective. The Hobby Zone staff provided outstanding service in assisting with troubleshooting and resolving the problem. Best customer service I've experienced with any hobby shop!

This is my first EDF and I'm glad I chose it. I've been flying for quite some time, but mainly focused on aerobatic planes. Many 64mm EDF's are under-powered, lack a rudder, and do not seem very durable. Virtually no other has flaps, which are helpful to slow these slippery planes for smaller landing areas. The Marlin is a peach, with plenty of power, an effective rudder (knife edge flight is straightforward), and responsive flight characteristics, while being a great first EDF with which to have a good experience. The jet flies better than many of my other planes and looks terrific. All the normal aerobatic maneuvers are straightforward. One of my flying buddies says it looks like a baby Avanti S, which is a big compliment. After a few bouncy landings, the nose gear failed. A quick call to Dan was all it took to get the parts needed on the way. He was extremely helpful and quick to both admit the weakness and have improved parts ready to go. As a side note, Dan says they are going to be bringing out additional EDF's soon. I'll keep a watch for them.

This is a great EDF trainer. This airplane fly's great and you cannot beat the price. I have seen this recommended as a great first EDF, and that is true. It also would not upset me if someone picked this up as a first low wing trainer, the flight characteristics are that stable. Plane glides great and flaps make for controllable landings. Very satisfied with this plane. Great job Arrows!

I have been looking for a first time jet that I would not have to buy 6 cell batteries for and the Marlin fit the bill. Very easy to assemble and the foam finish is very good. My only complaint is the plane manual calls for CG between 80- 90 and with a 4s 3000 it was almost impossible to balance. Then I looked at the Hobby Zone site specs and it says CG should be 72-75. Now it balances at perfectly. I've seen this problem before with manufactures specs specifically with FMS. Dealers should bring it to manufacturers attention.

First the bad, then the good. The nose gear is insufficient for anything other than perfect landings on hard-surface runways. I land on hard-pack dirt and had to repair my gear after the second landing. The servo stripped and I replaced it with a 90-degree metal gear servo. The upper gear piece snapped off at the detention. The lower gear piece remained intact. I have replaced the upper gear piece twice already even though I land on the mains. However, this is a great jet. I love the styling and it has plenty of power. The flaps help for shortening the takeoff and landing rolls. The construction is otherwise solid with alot of extras like the hatch-latch and ball joint control rods. It is a great beginner EDF for experienced RC pilots wanting to add a jet to their collection. Fix the nose gear and this would be a GREAT jet!

As others in the forums this jet has an issue with the front landing gear, The rod connecting servo arm to the front landing gear breaks and there is NO replacement part offered for this jet. So unless you are good at diy replacement parts i would pick a different jet. One of the guys at my field is going to try and make a replacement rod for me. Also the front servo gears are plastic and strip easy.

On a positive not before the gear broke it had no issues taking off from the grass runway.

(Note from Dan, We had the factory obtain higher tensile strength steel gear. We then have packaged it with the plastic servo arm, and collet, and included this spare set in every new plane. We have been shipping them to anyone who notified us of a problem with their gear)