AS 350 - what to look out for when buying
Goody35: Listen to 'nigelh' and seriously consider the Bell LongRanger. A good 206L3 with emergency floats and airconditioning is well within your budget and has sufficient performance to operate in your area with a decent passenger load. If you can stretch your budget slightly (only 'slightly'), an L4 will give you better performance margins on hot days. Avoid the 206L (under-powered) and the 206L1 (marginal power on hot days), Note that there is no 206L2, the sequence goes 206L, 206L1, 206L3 and 206L4.
It's a well known fact in the commercial helicopter business that the product support of both Eurocopter and Turbomeca are somewhat lacking, whereas Bell Helicopter has been at the top of product support surveys for about fifteen years.