You're giving uninformed consumerist advice like paying more for name brand grip tape that will do nothing. It's not about preference you just are a sheep that blindly loves brands probably because all your peers love those brands for the same reason. using the defense "it's just my opinion" or "it's just my preference" doesn't mean anything when you have no basis for your reasoning. You're not being helpful towards him given his situation because he wants a starter skateboard for as cheap as possible and you're like "BUY THAT PRO GRIP TAPE BRO MY FRIEND DID A 360 FLIP WITH IT ON HIS BOARD ITS THE BOMB."
im giving him something that will last him a while, and help him save. If he's new, he's not going to throw himself off of a loving 13 stair, he's just going to keep it simple. If on a cheaper, less quality board, he were to try the insane stuff, it would snap/break down, but from all the non hardcore stuff he did on the board, its hardly damaged, and will last him a lot longer.
if he really wants a cheap deck, just get a complete, which I think I've stated earlier.