For all inexpensive meters, don't believe the CAT ratings and don't use them on mains!
That said, I have the Aneng AN8008 and it's a pretty nice meter. Dave did a review.
https://www.amazon.com/ANENG-AN8008-Multimeter-Resistance-Capacitance/dp/B076GZK62BI also have the ZT-X which has a very bright display with very large numbers. Perfect for an old guy but I think Dave hates it. It's the first meter I reach for.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JJ9MR3LI also have an Fluke 189 for precision work but I seldom use it and I have both of the eevBlog meters but they're out of your price range. Nice meters... I'm knee deep in meters but I actually use the ZT-X (and, sometimes, the AN8008).
https://www.eevblog.com/2018/06/24/eevblog-1095-is-a-38-multimeter-any-good-aneng-q1-review-4k/Here's the thing: You don't want to use these meters on mains because you can't count on the CAT rating. There are better tools for that kind of work. OTOH, for 100 years (plus or minus) we used Simpson 260 meters on mains and they were so old they had never even heard of CAT. They also didn't have shielded banana jacks. I'm not sure that all the really old variants were even fused.
Somehow we lived through those years (decades, actually). I have a hard time getting interested in CAT ratings. They are intended for severe transient situations - like lightning hitting the pole outside your house while you stand in the rain measuring the incoming utility voltage.
https://www.ecmweb.com/archive/article/20894241/what-you-need-to-know-about-category-ratingshttps://www.fluke.com/en-us/learn/blog/safety/multimeter-guideYou need 3 meters to play with transistors. You want to simultaneously measure base current, collector current and V
CE. Search for 'w2aew transistor' and follow along. Since components have tolerances and Beta varies a lot, absolute accuracy isn't such a big deal. You do NOT need an 8 digit DMM that costs a bazillion dollars.