I've had both volumes for years, Unas. You're right to be wary of Mr. Budge. First of all, he wrote his works a very long time ago, at a time when our understanding of hieroglyphs was a long way from what it is today. Secondly, as Psusennes I intimated, Budge's system of transliteration is a bit odd. That's because it's a system he himself invented, and if you have a number of his books in which his transliteration is involved, you'll notice he's not always consistent with his own system. Thirdly, a fact not well known is that Budge did not like to have his works edited and tended to dominate the publishing of his own books.
All that being said, what your grandparents gave you is a terrific gift! Budge may have his downside, but he was a brilliant researcher, a keen historian, and a prolific writer. Once you become familiar with hieroglyphs you will start to recognize where Budge falls short. Psusennes I mentioned the titulary at the end of the second volume, and he's right about the mistakes; they can be amusing but really all they demonstrate is how our knowledge of the glyphs were developing at that time.
I use Budge's dictionary quite often, but rarely as a sole reference. I always double-check what I'm looking for with Faulkner's I just wish Faulkner's dictionary wasn't so concise! I wish he had compiled something as comprehensive as Budge's two volumes. There's also a handy for Faulkner's dictionary, which I keep meaning to buy but haven't yet. Of course all Egyptologists consult both Budge and Faulkner, but their main reference is the Wörtebuch, the famous German dictionary of ancient Egyptian, which comes in numerous volumes and unfortunately, to my knowledge, does not come in an English translation. A friend of mine who's been an Egyptologist for 25 years bemoans the fact that in his divorce some years ago, his wife got to keep all their volumes of their Wörtebuch!
