Many have great success now adays with helicopters due to good flight simulators, heading hold gyros and 300 dollar price range plastic framed helis that are reliable and stable. They really are no more difficult to fly than airplanes but they need some patience, a willingness to learn the mechanics and plenty of practice. Someone local that is experianced and can look over your build job and verify your tuning and final setup will also go a long way.

They are more expensive and more expensive to crash but they will keep you constantly challeneged to learn new tricks and perfect the ones you know. In short I've never been bored with a heli, I have found myself bored with many fixed wing planes and gliders.

http://www.heliproz.com and http://www.ronlund.com both have pages with beginner info. Your budget is well within reason for a 50 or even 90 sized nitro heli, nicely equipped and a flight sim and some spare parts.