lots of good advice above.
I have recently been through a similar quest to the OP, just not looking for a pickup on the mando.
I ended up with a Kentucky 350 used from GC for about $200. It needed setting up, but there is a nice guy on mandolin cafe offering a free setup book, so that was ok. It's loud - no sneaky practicing after the family's gone to bed...
I'm terms of new instruments the Kentucky 150 seems to have a lot of fans. If you get it from somewhere like Elderly then it comes nicely setup. I didn't want to spend that much though.
With pickups the budget usual suspects are ibanez, fender, Epiphone and Gretch. I think they are all laminate, but that may not be a killer.
A style offers much more bang for the buck than f. F holes are more strident than round soundholes, so are better at cutting through the mix. Round soundholes seem better for classical and celtic.
Setup is everything. The guy who sends out the setup book uses Rogue mandos and seems to make them play.....
If you get one without a pickup you can always add one later if you want to.
Mandolessons.com has some great material and lessons.
Good luck and have fun
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