I just picked up a Gray Nicolls X181 500S during the boxing day sales for $209 (down from $349, a pretty good price imo), its got an extremely light pickup and balance and im loving it. I wasn't sure how many coats of oil to give it though as I'm going to apply an extratec sheet after knocking it in and heaps of websites recommend using 2 coats of a tea spoon full of oil, but I'm only using a light coat on a chux rag.