@Cal @ret I'd say absolutely yes, but that may depend on your expectations.

User friendly: Devuan, which I use, is based on Debian, and is just as easy to use. Ubuntu is also based on Debian, FWIW. When using Ubuntu, I tend to use the alternate console based installers as I find the GUI one too inflexible (I install to a raid10 mirror with LVM over it with encryption), and I think the text based one is easier to follow as well.

Community: it's been more helpful, IME. Less noise.