That’s a fair price for a hot air popper. I had one many moons ago. It popped the kernels well. However, it always seemed that the popcorn came out too dry. I tried drizzling butter over it, misting it with olive oil, and drinking lots of water, but could never get close to the taste that I wanted.
What finally got me switched away from hot oil popping was the silicone microwave popper. You can put a quarter cup of kernels and a teaspoon of your preferred oil in, microwave for ~2 minutes, and it tastes pretty darn good. If you add hot sauce, or some other liquid flavoring, your cook time will increase slightly.