"Lastly - any ones we should absolutely stay away from? Noisy - lights not strong enough, POS, breaks down etc? "

See your quote below:

"There seem to be a ton of them in the $300-400 range. Lots of no-name ones on Ebay and Amazon very inexpensive."

You're asking for an oxymoron. Either give up performance and reliability. Or expand your budget. Good quality island hoods don't come cheap at all. Kobe and Faber are two of the least expensive decent quality hoods out there, but you're not going to see them for your budget unless they are scratch and dent. And without the duct cover extension.

Have you looked at moving the cooking zone to a wall. Good ventilation can easily be 1/3 the cost for a wall vs. an island.

Thanks. Unfortunately it's impossible to move the cooktop off of the island without massive expense - thousands. The kitchen was poorly designed and we are just making the best of it with what we have for the short term.

Forget finding a premium quality hood then. We need cheap with available extensions.