First thing you have to realize with the people here is that they are passionate about brilliantly engineered test equipment.
if a company brings out a new generation of multimeter based in diamond semiconductor (it is possible) that will operate up to 200degC without a problem, true RMS flat to 1Ghz, etc, then suddenly the best Fluke meters will become a piece of "junk".
If you are not working with mains, even many of the $10 meters are very useable.
Next step up is probably the Vichy VC97 (about $27 delivered) and the VC99 which both include a temperature probe. These are getting to be decent in features and accuracy, but again, I am not sure about regularly sticking it in the mains socket. If you do, it will probably be OK, but if the meter did fail, it could explode. Definitely not unbreakable, but very useful. Around about the $40 - $50, there are a few fairly decent meters, many of which have been extensively mentioned in these forums. Definitely some meters with much better construction then the Vichy. Some have features like USB/RS232 data logging which can be pretty cool.
Now to put things in perspective, if you look at a $50 meter today, it is probably way safer then most of the meters available in the 1980's that cost hundreds of dollars.
At $100, you start to get to the fairly safe meters with mains with the proper fuses, etc.
If you are using the meter every day, and you want something you can really trust, you will go for something like the high end Flukes, Gossens and Agilents. If you are a professional out in the field and your $50 meter dies, or gives an erroneous reading, the consequences could easily cost more then the price of a top end Fluke just in that one day. Just not worth messing around with the cheap stuff.
If you choose to get a cheap meter now, it can still remain extremely useful in the future as a second, third or 4th meter. So look at your budget and your expected usage and know that even $27, or even $10 gets you something that works and is useful, even if it feels a little junky. You can get two or three if you like. If you want to invest in something that is as safe as you can get, and that you will very likely be using in 20 years, invest in a good high end meter.
Richard