get something from last season, you'll get a sick deal and sick skis. if you ride mostly park then you should check out k2 fujatives (or has the name changed?) or rossi scratches.
look for a ski sale where people can sell/ trade skis. You will likely be able to find a ton of new last years models cause usually all the stores from the area bring them in.
Check out www.evogear.com, I'm gunna buy a pair of last years Walls there, pretty cheap. But you can find some really cheap stuff if you look around.
I'd say, for general price terms, Atomic makes some decently priced skis, if you can find them Atomic Twins are some of the cheapest out there, and they seem to be really good skis. Salomon has the Threat out this year for $450 those look legit.