More about the cecilio sax

I have never tried a Ceclio, and until I do, I can only go by what I have read about them, which was discouraging. I definitely would not buy one unless you could have a highly-experienced player test it for you and give his/her stamp of approval. You also might want to call your local music store and ask their sax repair person their opinion (if they have encountered one). There has been a plethora of ISOs (instrument shaped objects) in the last 10 years or so, and some repair people have formed some very strong opinions -as in "I won't even accept work on a BrandX sax because a week later all the adjustments will need to be re-done and it makes me look bad".

You should be able to get a pretty-and-ready-to-play used Yamaha YAS-23 for around $400 (I got one for my son about 4 months ago). It would be a much safer bet musically and as an investment (i.e. you don't like it and want to re-sell it). There are also plenty of older tried-and-true beginner horns that you can get quite inexpensively (maybe $175-200), such as the Buescher Aristocrats from the 1960s to 1980s and the Bundy/BundyII horns.