I would not recommend an earlier version, some of the enhancements in EQ7 make it more user friendly. There are some great on line tutorials for EQ 7 that may not be compatable with some of the early versions.
Shop around , and yes worth the money if yuo can spend a bit of time learning to use its great functions. Like any software it takes some getting guidance and getting familiar. I remember when the mouse came out for computers and even that took some getting use to it.