There is a nice Janome machine on ebay for about that price and it has 4.8 out of 5 stars. I would pick a Janome over a Brother, personally. I've had a brother (from walmart-so maybe it was a junky one) and hated it.
http://www.amazon.com/Janome-2212-Se...eywords=janome
also this one which has 4.6 out of 5 stars:
http://www.amazon.com/Janome-2212-Se...eywords=janome