good advice from elanasgrumpy. It's really a ford chevy thing as far as which is best. Stick with the brand names such as Futaba, JR, Hitec & you'll be fine. You also may want to check them out at your LHS to see which one feels more comfortable.
The only thing I would recommend & it fits in your price range is to go with a computer radio because of the model memory & other features. The computer ones also grow with you better as you get into more aerobatic planes.

Good luck