l dont wanna spend too much. l go skiing about once a week whenever there is enough snow. l have been skiing for about a year.

There are many good brands. l would suggest Solomon, maybe Rossingol.

all depends on what kind of skiing you do and where you ski. if your in the west coast or east appilations then your gonna wanna go with a more expensive brand like atomic or k2 these are 2 brands that will allow for whatever your into. like moguls slalom freestyle or just free rideing. if ya spend about 600 bucks your in DECENT shape anything less just remember ya get what ya pay for.. hope this was somewhat helpful. shred it up !!!!!!

Brand is not the nearly as important as the type of ski u will need. Choose first a good fitting boot, then look for a ski that is a medium to higher performance intermediate type or all mountain ski. A good ski will help teach u to be a better skier, it should be responsive to ur movement & require more precision from you. A beginner ski is just that it is very damp with no significant response to an edge movement. A good ski will snap back at u when u flex it, beginners' ski will be very dampened in comparison.
K2, Head, Atomic, Nordica, & Rossignol all make a good range of skiis. Do not get any race skiis at this stage of u career, Ask ur instructor what might be appropriate, also u might try different brands & models at a demo day. Research how to tune skiis, edge sharpening, & wax, will change how a ski performs.
An all mountain ski will last many seasons, a twin tip is more for park riding & stunts. Also u may shop around the rental shops, they may have used equipment with bindings at a good price. Another option is a season rental package with upgrade rights.
Boots r the critical piece of gear. Enjoy.

get some parabolic rossignols you could probly get a used pair fairly cheap at your local shop thats what l did for my first pair.

Well, i`m a lap(distance) skier & l have Fischer skis. I`m definitely comfortable with them. Few years ago l used Madshus, & if we compare these two then Fischer r quite better. But if u r sking only for a year, then l would suggest u to buy Madshus, cuz they r maybe not so good as Fischer, but for first few years Madshus r probably better, & they r cheaper also. I`ve heard from my mate that Atomic r also good skis(althought i`m not sure about price).

PS. Poles r also important, & from my experience i`d suggest u to use Exel poles, cuz they r light & very strong.