Well, my best recommendation there is just to stick with one of the better brand names: Toshiba, Sony, Panasonic, JVC. The off brands might work fine, but you never know quallity-wise if they'll break down after a few hours, and they might not do such a good job at digitizing.
For a low-cost unit, stick to a big box store like Best Buy, which should have decent return policies if the unit breaks ... something like this one:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....ustomerReviews
Still, if you buy a better name-brand unit, you can always sell it on Ebay when you're done copying all your tapes to DVD.
EDIT:
Here's a good choice too:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16882116098