I've had good luck with Coleman products. I started out camping and hiking with a $60 coleman tent. It stood up to years of abuse, and more then its fair share of midwestern thuderstorms.

I would set it up and let it ride out differant weather conditions so you know if you have to adjust the way its setup in bad weather. I would also leave it setup for a couple days then give it a treatment with a good weatherproofer.

You really don't need to go out and spend a ton of money to do casual backpacking. As long as your careful with what take you can easily get your pack to weight less then 30 pounds for a week on trail.