If you know how to fix PSPs (or other general electronics), then I would highly recommend getting an second hand PSP.
I bought used PSP 1001 before, it had a problem, went back to the store, got another one, and that one also had a problem, so then I had to go back again, and finally got one that works perfectly, but had a couple scratches on the screen. No worries, I just then bought a new faceplate, and it's as good as new.
Then I went to China at the summer of 2008 and got me an red PSP 2006, and just gave my 1001 away to my 2nd cousin.
My timeline of PSP were
(Before Pandora)
1. Cereamic White PSP 1000 (imported from Japan), hacked it, and bricked it by accident messing with Flash0, sold it.
(After Pandora)
2. Bought a used black PSP 1001, had problems (doesn't read UMDs and had a stripped screw), returned it.
3. Got another one, also had problems (left and right doesn't work correctly), returned it.
4. Got another one again, no problems but a couple of scratches on screen, replaced it with a new faceplate, gave it away
5. Got an Deep Red PSP 2006 (while I was in Hong Kong), and currently using with 5.00 M33-6 (can't get the multitasking to work on irshell with 5.50 Gen)
I have flashed all those PSP, I didn't really care the about the UMD not working, but I thought it would be a nice feature to have if it actually did, then I noticed the problem after flashing the 2nd used PSP.
You can look around to find some old 2000 bundles, like the God of War, Star Wars, madden?, and Daxter bundles are all confirmed hackable. I still see some of those around at places, you could also search online, but make sure the site is legit first before you actually buy it.