I personally think that most any slate call is pretty easy to use. Takes a little practice to get the hang of it but give yourself an hour to practice with one and you should be able to master it. I think a plain slate surface is probably the easiest to use, some of the newer high tech surfaces seem to require a little more maintenance. Personally I'm a little partial to Primos calls, although they are admittedly a little more expensive. Any of the major call makers (MAD, Primos, HS Strut, Quaker Boy, etc.) all make good slates. Also look around and see if you can get your hands on custom call. There are a lot of good small scale call makers around and often times their calls sound better because they are hand made as opposed to mass produced like the big call makers.