It is definitely an R-44, they are used for fish spotting among other things. As for them being a good or bad helicopter, that depends on your attitude more than anything else. They certainly cannot compare to turbine helicopters for rough work, but no turbine helicopter can do for the average person what the Robinson R-22 has done, with admirable safety especially considering how lightly it is built and the fact that almost all of the time they get is spent in training activity which is not light duty. The main reason for the good safety record is that the factory sets a service life which when reached does not allow further flight as a certificated helicopter until it is remanufactered by the Robinson factory.
I did my basic helicopter training in one, and it did make me nervous but never let me down, and I got to like it. I do feel safer in a friend's Hughes 500E. But my helicopter experience is entirely backwards, having first experienced them from the CH-37 point of view, then to the 47, then Hueys, Jetrangers and finally the Robinson.