Gel-Nimbus Lite

If the Nimbus works well for you I would start with one of those first and see if that feels right for you still. I ran my fastest races in the Nimbus range (1h 35m for a half, 42m for a 10k). Theres nothing wrong with them if they work for you. I would possibly rule out carbon plate shoes because as you say you are on a budget and those may be beyond your reach. You may get lucky in some sales though so always worth searching around. It's very difficult to recommend running shoes for people because we are all different and of course built differently as well. I run in the NB Supercomp Trainer V3. A shoe that is universally hated by most running shoe "geeks" lol. However it works very well for me, I can get into a good 5.30 minute per km pace, and I regularly finish half marathons in under two hours in them. The cushioning protects my body and every half marathon I've done in them I feel great the next day. My only complaints are I wish they were a tiny bit lighter, and they had a bit more rubber on the sole. I loved the V1's but the sole rubber was so soft you could wear through it in 400 miles and the V3's are kind of similar. I don't like Nike, I've tried various models, most are too soft for me, or they fall apart after 100 miles, etc. However, I can understand why people like them. I tried both the Vomero and Invincible shoes (too unstable) and hated them. Again we are all different my friend. I recently purchased the Asics Megablast, really fun running shoe. Great bounce, energy and I could see me smashing my times in them BUT they cause me foot pain due to the narrow foot box so they are going on EBay unfortunately! Because the Megablast has become so incredibly popular you can find the Superblast on sale on some websites. If you get on well with ASICS maybe those are worth a try (if they are within you budget). As mentioned the Mizuno Neo Vista is very well regarded and are often found for great prices online. I got myself a pair of the Neo Vista 2's for less than $100. The reviews comparing them to the original Supercomp Trainer got me interested so I'm waiting for the weather to improve a bit before trying them. They are nice and white at the moment and I want to try and keep them bright and shiny at least for a little while! haha. Good luck on your search, find a good running store if you can and try on a few different pairs from various brands. Don't let them put you under pressure to buy. Sometimes you can be surprised by what works for you.