I'm still considered a beginner to a novice, but my GAS (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome) hit me hard in the first year of playing. I looked around and purchased a lot of lower end guitars (some say too many) from advice friends gave me (couldn't try them out at a guitar store in Iraq). For acoustics I was impressed by the Takamine Jasmine (bout $100-$150 US Dollars) and my wife got me one as a surprise for when I returned. I also purchased an Ovation Celebrity CC24 Acoustic/Electric (as it had a built in tuner - about $350 USD) and play that one the most when I'm working on strengthening my fingers and cleaning up my tones. Those are the extent of my personal experience with Acoustics, but friends in Iraq also bragged about their Dean starter packs (usually $250 USD or less) that they got through www.musiciansfriends.com Of course best advice I can give is one I've seen over the past few years on here from time to time: If you can swing by your local Guitar Store, try them out. All the different sizes, shapes, name brands still confuse me so I'll probably take their advice myself for the next one. As I stated before I'm still just starting out, working through Fundamentals 2 slowly now to get it to sink in, but I hope this helps a little.

Brian