"Best" is a matter of opinion

To me, the best trainset would be a Kato in N scale.  The track is sturdy, the engines are great runners, but they are pricey.  You do, most often, get what you pay for, though.  What brand name sets do they have?  Atlas is probably the only other one I would personally buy, but I'm not sure if they have any sets with track, train, power, etc. or not.  My two cents.

N Scale Starter

I would agree....Atlas or Kato would be the ones to go with.  Some of the new Athearn stuff is also good running equipment.  However, if you really think that you're going to do some modeling and get into the hobby, why not look into starting with the classic door frame and research some track plans for this size of layout, rather than just getting the starter track and building an oval or something similar.  I'd recommend buying some flextrack and turnouts after settling on a small track plan so that you can grow the layout.

Best N Scale Train Set?

Probably the best "bang for your buck" is Atlas with Kato a close second. This is Atlas' first foray into the N scale train set market in a long time. Now if you're looking for something that you can expand right away, I'd have to go with Kato as their prefab track range has much more selection that Atlas but I'd look for Atlas to expand in the future. IMHO, what stinks about the prefab track market is the lack of compatability between manufacturers which is the case in all scales.  Cant we all just get along????

JP

Edgewater, MD

"Best"

It is a matter of opinion, but for the money Kato is first then comes Atlas.  No if's and's or but's.