Looking for a cam that has a decent battery life, good qual pics, and as much onboard mem as I can find. I’m at a loss in the camera market. Who makes the highest quality budget cams?

The Canon Powershot A590IS is a good one for that price. You may find it even a little cheaper. It has Image Stabilization, viewfinder and you can manually set the aperture and shutter speed.

You will need a memory card. The internal memory in any camera is very small. You will also need AA rechargeable batteries and a charger.