I prefer to free range. It of course comes with risk of loss due to predators, but if you are willing to accept that, then in my opinion yes. It is good for them. How long have they been contained in their coop? If they've been in there a couple of weeks, they are used to going in and roosting there and will (should) all return in the evening. A good idea that's thrown around on here a lot is to start by letting them out in the evening. That way they don't have too much time to wander off before it's time to return. Personally, it's taken a while for any of mine to venture very far from their run anyway. Even now they really only go about 50 yards and generally not even that far.
