Yes! Buy used.
Go to craigslist or Facebook "For sale in your area" or anywhere you can find old stuff for sale. The 1960s Singers and other machines were so much better made than today's thousand-dollar all-plastic models. Someday they're gonna make needles outta plastic, too, I swear.
For $50 or less you can often find a Singer with a built in table.

A machine that can handle heavy fabric? You'd have to spend a thousand or more for new machines that can handle two layers of denim. I don't know your skill level, but an old $30 machine might be a safe way to begin, because $200-300 will get nothing * new* that is sturdy or strong.

My 1949 matte-black Singer is awesome, but I tried to set the tension on it to sew through satin and it all went fubar, and it turns out I have to order thread-spools online from antique dealers because the bobbin doesn't work with today's standard thread spools. It seems to me every town has its resident sewing machine guru who loves to collect old machines and knows how to keep them running, but these collectors are dying off along with the last of the WWII veterans. Good luck!!