I won't claim to be an expert, but I know a thing or five about cheap guns.
Under $125:
Raven .25 ACP. Haven't been made in almost 30 years, but they are not the dumpster fire people make them out to be. Look for serial numbers under 1 million, this means they were older models that I believe were better made.
Of all the "Ring of Fire" pistols, I think the Ravens are the best. Are they great guns? No, the sights aren't great, the trigger isn't great, the safety just blocks the trigger, it doesn't stop the firing pin... but I've only had one FTE with it and that was on the last round of a magazine. 6 rounds of .25 isn't much, but so long as you shoot for the head, face, and neck, it's going to have an effect.
There's also 6 shot, .22 LR only Heritage revolvers you can get for $100 on Black Friday.
Under $200:
Used Ruger 9E, used LCP, Hi Points, used SCCY's, Heritage .22 Magnum, H&R .32's, Pietta black powder percussion revolvers.
I know you said no to Hi Points, but for home defense guns and not carry guns, they're fine. Great warranty, anything wrong, send it in, Hi Point fixes it and sends you a new magazine for your troubles.
The Heritage revolvers, I would go for a 9 shot model if you can find them in that price range. They're becoming tough to find apparently, not many places have them in stock. Lot of changes have happened with Heritage since Taurus bought them and I honestly don't think those changes have been for the better.
H&R .32 S&W Long revolvers are for some reason common on gunbroker and the prices are about $50+ lower than they were this time last year. Is .32 a stopper? No, but it's better than .22, .25, and .32 ACP.
Black powder revolvers... these are mostly going to be brass framed, but sometimes Cabela's has sales on 1858 steel frames for $200. Yes, you'll have to buy powder, bullets, primers, and lube or lubed wads, but you can also make some of those things to lower the cost.
Are they effective? Yup, when I hit the steel at 50 yards, it hits pretty hard. Maybe not .45 Colt levels hard, but the cool thing is for another $240, you can get a conversion cylinder and shoot cartridges from them.
After $200, you get into your usual suspects. Ruger's EC9s is CHEAP, used LC9s can be found for CHEAP, and they're not bad guns.
Armscor .38 revolvers are fine, they won't ever win a beauty contest, but they'll work. I think used Charter Arms revolvers made before 1990 are exceptional and, so long as it's not a .22 LR, you can get them for under $300. I scored a .357 Charter for $250 and the trigger is so smooth and light... man, it blows away any Ruger SP101.
I think everyone else has covered what's pretty good for over $200.