You certainly aren’t wrong. Persistence is almost always more important than “the right gear”, but we shouldn’t hold it against people just joining our hobbies who buy nice gear and try to be their friends (unless they’re assholes about having the best stuff ofc). If they do end up getting into it fantastic! You have a new friend who likes the same hobby. If they don’t, maybe they’ll give you some of their better gear because you were cool and tried to help them get into the hobby.

My main point is to just be welcoming to newbies of all stripes. We were all in their shoes at one point so we know it can suck when someone is being elitist and unhelpful. Be the guy who helps out the new guy because you were the new guy.