The highest that I've ever paid for a typewriter is $112 (including), and that was for a 1929 Royal Portable. I regret paying that much, especially when I came across a 1930's Royal Portable (which I prefer the style of) with a tabulator for $75 at a flea market. The only thing special about my Royal is that it's a very nice cream/tan color which I have never seen anywhere else.

​Moral of the story is, would a collector pay that? Probably not, especially for a common portable. But if it's worth it to you, then by all means go ahead. This is just my personal experience and opinion.

Pay around $100 max including shipping.

I guess I should say something here.  So here goes:  The only one I can answer for in this case is myself.  Not only would I not pay that much for any typewriter, I could not pay that much--too rich for my hillbilly blood.  The realm of the $1,000 typewriters is a province of those who are higher up on the food chain than I am--and also for those who invest in the supposed future value of things.  There are people who invest large sums of cash for old books.  But instead of reading them--they feel the outside covers to try to tell if they are very valuable.  Paintings, they don't look at the pictures--they look at the signature on the bottom that reads who the painting was done by. 

Investing and speculation I leave to my betters.  I'll just stick to my gooey, maudlin sentimentalities dictating which typewriters I take--and occasionally have included at least two or three 1920s-1930s portable typewriters.  And most of those were given to me--and most graciously received as well.

What would you guys say are the best portable brands?

Thanks for your input TypewriterKing. I am completely new to typewriters and don't really intend to be a collector but I would like to get just at least one machine I can play around with.

So, what makes a typewriter good anyway? Or when debating how good a typewriter is, what do people argue about?