I'm interested to try mining as a hobby. I just bought very small amount of bitcoins out of curiosity from Coinbase. It was rather easy, I used 3D secure (Verified by Visa) Visa and had to send a copy of my drivers licence.
I'm planning to buy Antminer S5. Of course it is not competitive (would need Antminer S7), but I want to test with cheaper equipment. My electricity is approximately 8 euro cents/kWh. I can use waste heat to warm my house approximately 7 months in a year. For summer I move the equipment outside.