I've never had a paypal account so I wanted to try and get some feedback from the bitcoin community about the service. I understand how a paypal account can have value and why someone would want to create one. I've also heard bad things about paypal and how they can be very heavy handed.
Any constructive replies will be very much appreciated

Used it in the past for online purchases since it was easy enough, though I never kept any kind of balance; I would have the amount needed for payment wired to the account, and pay from there.
If you are going to make any transfers to it from a bank/credit union, see what, if any, fees your bank has for doing transfers.