More or less what has already been said, but look for a used drum kit if your budget is $500, they are quite durable and the expendables (cymbals, drum heads) can always be replaced, so you can often get a much better quality (more expensive) kit with hundreds of hours of play left on the heads/cymbals for a good price. It is a bit tough to recommend a limited range, your best bet would be to have a friend who is familiar with them help you check out one before you buy it, but you can often judge brands reasonably well with an overview of reviews online.