I’m a tuba player with a little bit of baritone experience who decided a while back that I wanted to get more into euphonium. I got impatient sorting through ebay listings, and I wanted to get a cheap horn quickly to start playing. Amazon's free 2 day shipping looked very appealing, and their return policy meant I could compare some budget options and try out the horns for a while to see what I liked best. Coming from tuba, the 4th valve low range was important to me so I was only looking at 4 valve instruments.

I ended up comparing two horns under 400 dollars, keeping both for about 2 weeks before deciding.

Mendini
The first instrument I had delivered was the Mendini 4 valve inline euphonium, formerly branded Cecilio, based on a few moderately positive reviews on the forums and a good rating on amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It might be the JinBao 1140L but I'm not 100% sure. It's 400 dollars shipped, there are some new from ebay at 380. I also saw Amazon warehouse deals at under 300 but I was worried about these because they could be bad QC examples that were returned. I was very impressed with this euphonium right off the bat because of how fast and smooth the valves were (my biggest concern for these Chinese stencils). The tuning slides also fit quite nicely. Sound quality was fine, and intonation was good for most notes. Middle C is untuneably flat played with 1, but is fine with 13 or 4, as seen in this video (not mine) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=araFg6HU9a4. Middle g is flat with 12, but with the 4th valve pulled out 14 is in tune. Seems like the problem could be that the first valve tubing is too long even pushed in all the way.

Pros: Tuning slides fit nicely
Decent sound, large shank mp
Fast, smooth, relatively quiet valves
Great light case
Can work around major intonation problems with alternate fingerings

Cons: Intonation problems
Spit leaks all over you from the valves and spit valves need to be emptied often

Glory
The second instrument I picked up was the Glory GEU4, a 4 front valve rotary german baritone. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 This is a glory branded version of the JinBao 1170L. I bought it at 330 but it has dropped to 300 now. I chose this instrument for a few reasons (besides price!). I am generally interested in oval baritones and how they look, I wanted to compare the sound with the euphonium style Mendini, and lastly, for wrist pain reasons as well as my tuba background I wanted a front valve instrument. There were some problems right off the bat: the valves were clicking and all notes were flat pushed in. This was because it came with a large shank mouthpiece but the receiver is European/ medium shank, so the mp stuck out quite a lot (but did technically fit). I picked up a medium shank mouthpiece later which fixed this tuning problem. The requirement for a new mouthpiece brings the cost up closer to the Mendini. Low notes are very hard to play with any mouthpiece.

Pros: Looks neat and is fun to hold and play
Sound fine throughout the mid and high range
No spit leaking on you, all drains to main valve.
Better intonation than Mendini in most of range
Front valves a pro for me
Similar good case

Cons: Low notes very hard to push out, tons of resistance (low F and down)
Some loose tuning slides
High range (high eb and above) gets flatter
Included mouthpiece wrong shank size
Clicking valves
Valve linkages somewhat warped

All in all I was extremely impressed with what a few hundred dollars could get you in the baritone world, especially shipped to your house in 2 days. I think that both instruments were good and easily worth the money. Both good options for beginners on a budget. The sound of both instruments with me playing was incredibly similar, my friend could not tell the difference from the other room nor could I from recordings. In the end, I wound up returning the glory oval baritone, because of the difficult low notes (tuba player) and clacking poorly fitted valve linkages. I figure that someday I can get an authentic European one (still cheap!).

I played on the Mendini exclusively for a few months, but I now only use it for muted nighttime practice. I upgraded to a King Artist 2268 (4 front valve upright bell american style), which is much better in tone quality, handling, intonation, and spit management. I really love the king, but it’s still important to remember that a used one cost me 4 times as much as the Mendini. The upright valves of the Mendini did end up causing problems for my wrist which do not exist at all with the King. I look forward to trying out the Wessex Festivo once I can get my hands on one.

TL;DR Both good horns and great value but I chose the Mendini because of its better valves and low register.