Frank,
I bought a Ryobi last year for something under $150 on sale at Orshelns, a local farm store. It does what I need, which is about what you are describing, though it is very light weight. The motor is higher up on the handles than in some designs, and I think that makes it more jumpy than ones with the motor right over the tines. However, it does the job and was cheap. BTW, this is a dedicated tiller, not one of the Ryobi's that have different heads, like for weedeating and such. I bought it partly because I was happy with the Ryobi drill I had purchased earlier.
Chuck