Recommendations for quality budget trailers

there realy isn't much difference between companies, each compan has it bottom entry level and there mid range and their higher quality models.  what you need to do is start looking at different floor plans, spend a bit of time in it moving around seeing if it will work for you.  then start checking things like the construction of the cabnet drawers, thats where you will start to see differences.  look at the material stuff is made out of and so on.  unless you want to go out and spend big dollars on a brinkly, you will find you will have to make choices between what you want and what you have to have. 

for a walk around queen bed, you are going to be up around the 26 foot or larger range, there may be some smaller ones with it but you don't see many.  but that 26 to 30 foot range has a lot of offerings.  

so when I was looing for my 5th wheel, I didn't like the jayco light, I thought the interior was very cheeply built, and I liked the montana.  but I ended up with the cougar, which was pretty much the same as the montana but different floor plan and maybe some better options on the montana, its all a balancing game. 

as for new/used, I usaly recomend leanign towards the newer end for purchasing.  to many people think there old rv's are made of gold, and especial now that so many bought them during the pandemic for severly over inflated prices. and know nothing about rv'ing so none of the anual maintance has been done, it has had water leaks and so on......  a good example is we just bought a new truck camper last month, we did buy a used one (2 years) but it was used in the dealers rental fleet so I know the important maintencance was done and they inspect them every time they are brought back from a rental.  I also got warenty included in the good price, I wasn't going to get warenty as I usaly fix them myself, but I did have some concern with theings like people renting it not baing good at keeping the rv with in level specs for running the fridge and stuff like that, plus they thrrew in the warenty for free pretty much. people are listing the same one I bought as a new rv privatly for 10000 more than I paid including the warenty and taxes. 

  when buying new you can bargin to some extent on the price, you can get warenty if you are not handy at fixing things for fairly cheep.  And, you can finance and keep the payment lower so your not sitting in the house looking at the rv in the driveway because you can't aford to go camping.  

if you have the cash laying around to buy used, that can be great also, but if you do buy used, get it inspected by a good moble rv tech.  there are guys that also only do rv inspections for purchasers who will go to where it is and send you a report.  then you can decide if it is worth going to buy.  keep in mind the chances that they will find a rv that doesnt have issues in next to nill, but at least you will know if there is any red flags. also the older it is the greater the chances it has had a leak and that is the worst thing you can have in an older rv.  

I’d look for used in your situation. Planned use is very light. 

Define "quality". There isn't much quality in the RV industry, let alone quality and budget in the same sentence. Just pick a floor plan you like from one of the better brands (not thor) and start there. Compare the same floorplan across different manufacturers and you'll start to get a feel for who has the better quality. Look for things that aren't obvious, like plumbing - do they use all pex or flexible fittings on fixtures, type of roof, how are the seams and penetrations treated, solid surface countertops or veneer particle board, etc.