I've rowed one (friend has 2, rarely get used since he also has a DB) many times. No complaints. Great boats for the reasonable price. Certainly not top-of-the-line, but certainly fully-functional, and have held up well to light abuse.
He'll love it. But might want to upgrade the oarlocks, which seems to be most people's main complaint with them. We just tie them down firmly with parachute cord, and they stay in place just fine.