I sprang for the $300 USD Braun one because I wanted swappable/detachable heads (so I'm not zapping my face with the same head I use on my junk) and the adjustable intensity (so I am not zap-frying the aforementioned junk). YMMV, but some of the cheaper units on Amazon should be OK as long as they're listed as safe for facial use. With those, you should definitely use it with cooling gel and light-filtering glasses. If you have darker hair, you should have pretty good results.

On the other hand, if money's too tight to risk ~$100 USD on an alphabet soup-brand IPL, just trying wax and/or an epilator should be a huge improvement. I had also tried a depilatory cream -- think it was Nad's -- but it didn't do much for me besides leave chemical burns.