I have purchased two Brother machines from Costco for my daughters. They are both happy with them, and you get that great Costco customer service.

Keep your eyes open for estate sales also. Check the local sewing center. JoAnn's, Hancocks, Walmart. There are lots of videos on nearly every machine out there for $300.00 or less.

Lots of sales going on at Hancocks and JoANns

I purchased a Brother XR37T for my granddaughter and so far it has been a good machine. I looked at some of the Brother machines at big box stores but was told by the dealer I bought from that most of the machines sold through Walmart and the like have plastic parts inside, whereas the XR37T and most likely some others have metal parts inside. I can't prove she was being truthful but took her word for it.

I didn't want just a straight stitch but wanted a mechanical, and one that had a few of the fancy stitches and of course zig-zag for finishing edges. I paid $299.00 in canada. It came with a video on how to work most of the feet and how to set the machine up which was nice. Saved a lot of reading.

Pretty much all sewing machines made these days have at least some plastic parts in them. The only machines with all metal parts are vintage machines. However, there are differences in both the quantity of plastic parts in a machine and the quality of the plastic parts. Whether there is a difference between the low-end machines in a dealership and the big box machines, I don't know.

CS6000i from Walmart is my favorite. Needle down, feed dogs down, 60 fancy stiches etc, etc. I started with a $699.dollar singer that was for quilters....Wrong....It is sitting on the floor in the corner. It came with an extension table (Brother) and was $159, 2 years ago.
Marie

Janome Gem or the Brothers machines are dependable good machines for that price.

Amazon has a lot of nice machines for under 200.00. They carry brother and janome.

Low end brothers are also pretty solid, my mechanical from overstock is about 8 years old, and my walmart brother is about 4, neither have given me any issues even my walmart brother sewed through super thick layers with no issues which really shocked me. Brothers also tend to come with more accesories

Any of the Janome or Brother machines in that price range will be great choices. The Brother's tend to have more stitches and options, the Janome's tend to be slightly longer lived. Both are well reviewed. I'd choose a Brother PC-210PRW or if he can stretch the budget just a bit... the PC-420PRW.