I have one, and kinda love it. yes, it is a bit of a pain to adjust, but once you have it, it works. I find it's best for sticks, not shaving down planks/sheets. (the center of the plane tends to 'dive down' into the material you're planning..)
Balsa is a pain to plane as well, and it's soft, goey, and easily bends. so, it easily gets sucked into planes & such. My best advise for that is to just sand and sand and sand away..
I do, however, have a small palm plane. The blade is about 1" wide and the whole plane is just over 3" long.
https://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=32700&cat=1,41182
the trick is to get as sharp a blade as you can! and do your utmost to keep it sharp!