Campbell,
Probably should of stated that just to save on confusion lol :)
I wont go over the ins and outs of clones e.t.c as i am yet to find a company in the UK (even Europe) that actually makes and builds these components/boxes themselves from scratch (all in house)
i actually brought a apparent 'Orginal' only to find a Quality Control slip in Chinese so you make your assumptions on that?
In answer to the actual question i supposed you could look at the following
Sub £100
***/Open boxes s11,s12 F3 (F3 looks best as has more components/faster processor on back but is new, S11 is more stable)
You will be limited to GUI on these, EPG and Recording available but dont expect anything fancy although F3 UI looks ok.
Eaglebox - Through our site sponsor SAT-SHOP.CO.UK (Basic box but you are also buying piece of mind as support e.t.c will be there)
Just Over £100 - £150
Then your into
Dreamboxes - Very popular, (i dont have one) but i think in general more can be done/added to these then the cheaper boxes, loads of support
Gigablue - Well supported more funcionality, nice box e.t.c
VU Duo - Not much more you can add on the VU range, (However this is in the list as the Clone Price not the as an Original Supplied by UK e.t.c prob £50-£100 more)
So the question now probably is, what sort of functionality does he want, is he bothered e.t.c?
Have fun choosing