LOUNGE DELUXE  I find the UI very intuitive, and I've never needed the manual at all. If you have trouble apprehending all possibilities of ABFR then I suggest you simply drag a file to the left column and start to play around with the different menus and fields. The right column will show the change to the file immediately, so it should become clear what all the menus and fields can do for you and your files.  
(Version 8.1.4)

HMURCHISON  Would you expect any less for $30? The best thing for noobs (and I'm one of them) is to create droplets for often used renaming jobs. Thus you are spared the plethora of choices and can utilize your droplets or contextual menu. No one said there would not be a learning curve but this app really isn't that difficult. You just need to take it step by step and identify what naming structure you want for a given data-type.   
(Version 8.15)

ST00P!D M0NK3Y  And because you're lazy, you gave it two stars? Nice.  
(Version 8.16)

RUBAIYAT  I agree that you have to think too often about what option is going to happen where and why.

Even after using it for years I would always find I had "forgotten" to click on one necessary button. A necessary button I always thought unnecessary.

I have switched to Renamer4Mac and find, even though it has a few quirks, it is very transparent about the choices and consequent results.  
(Version 8.26)