Hey man, I went through the same bs that you did trying to find a good gun. this is what i have found... DONT buy a JBL if you want any type of range, my Brother in law has one and has regretted it ever since. Now he re-saving to get a differant gun. I personally us the Riffe Padauk Competitor #0S Speargun, its a wood gun and for the price you cant beat it, i got mine at dolphinscuba.com in Sac. Ive got about 15ft of range with 2 bands, and i only spent about $280. on it. Im saving right now for a Mako for my back up gun, you might check them out as well.
http://www.makospearguns.com/ also hammerheads are good guns with a lower price as well. dont go with the JBL they are good close up but not much else in my experiance. Let me know if i can help you out in anyway. I dive NorCal a lot and this is just what i have learned. Also i think all three of these guns you can get for less then 275. Good luck
