My city is a rare one in that it has two top tier recumbent dealers. One sells Performer products, but have not (and will not) ever build one of their bikes for the showroom. Trikes rule in both shops. It is very unlikely the o.p. will find a built up Family Tandem to test. I would be really surprised if the Hase was only 2x the price of the Performer. But that might be because I took direct drop shipment of mine from Taiwan and built the kit out myself. If the Family Tandem is anything like our
Dual Recumbent Tandem the o.p. has nothing to worry about. Pocket the savings and call it very good.
On the other hand ... the Stoker not knowing how to ride a bike is pretty much the point of a tandem. The 'normal' kind of tandem. The Hase and Performer hybrid tandems are mainly for when the Stoker has some kind of physical or cognitive disability. A mid-1990's Burley Samba can be found for $600ish. In it's day you would have spent $2000+ for one. THAT is the bike for a couple taking their first tentative pedal strokes twogether. That, or a late 20teens Trek T900. Roughly the same price. The Burley is serious over the road tandem, drag brake and all. The Trek is geared towards the comfort market. You'll want to ditch the OEM saddles, sadly, even used you will find little is usually changed on these bikes.
Ours on the other hand barely resembles a stock model anymore. The frame and wheels are about the only OEM components.