I guess you will have to define for yourself what a reasonably good quality laser is, what are your technical requirements and what you need it for. Epilog Mini18 is not a hobby machine. Glowforge, Full Specrum Muse and K40 are the only enthusiast class machines I know of. Of course you can get a cheap Chinese production machine but you should manage your expectations in terms of quality and support.
I would suggest to buy one of the blue-white eBay machines for about 1.5K to learn about the technology and upgrade later when you feel more confident. If you don't mind importing from China see this: www.hsglaser.com/engarving/1073.html
It should be less than 3K shipped.