Drip systems require a lot of attention. You MUST clean your drippers frequently- a couple of times per week- or nutrient salts WILL build up and clog them, leading to dead plants.
Flood systems are dead-nuts easy. I've tried several systems- drip, NFT, aero/bubbler and I finally went back to the flood system I started with.
For several years now, I have been using loose rockwool floc in 8" dia plastic pots which sit in a flood tray. I have tried expanded clay pellets (Hydroton) in my pots but find they are hard to handle, heavy, much more expensive than rockwool floc and difficult to dispose of. Drop a handful of pellets and you will chase them all over the room. Grr. If you use a high moisture-holding medium like rockwool, you need only flood 1x day and the rockwool will hold enough water to carry the plant for a day or so if a pump fails.
Because they have no small tubes or tiny drip apertures, flood systems don't clog and can be cleaned and sterilised completely in 10 minutes. You may get marginally better performance out of fancier systems (though there's not really enough difference to fuss about), but you just can't go past the simplicity and reliability of a flood system, whether for newbs or experienced growers.
