Hi Ken,
Horses for courses really.
Cornwall, so I'm guessing hilly? Some would say that demands a mid drive, but, living in hilly west Wales and using a hub drive, I beg to differ. At your budget point they will mostly be hub drives of chinese origin, even if assembled elsewhere. Majority of hub drives are pas sensing not torque sensing. This means that you will get power by merely rotating the pedals, effort not necessarily required. A distinct advantage if ones knee/hip goes painful a few miles from home. On a torque sense bike (mid drives and mostly european) you have to put in effort to get power assist.
So a front or rear geared hub (don't go direct drive, highly inefficient on hills and below around 20mph) with the largest battery you can afford as you will want to go further once you get it.
The Halfords e carreras have been getting a bad rep on here for cut out problems and some sort of drive resistance problem - not yet nailed.
Woosh have a good rep and good customer service, though they only sell online or from their Southend base. Wifes got a Big Bear, good basic workhorse, very strong front hub. It's the one they spec for taller/heavier people.
The others I don't know
If you already have a bike you like your budget would pay for a really nice conversion, if you're handy with the spanners. Most kits come plug and play. Has the advantage of you ending up with a bike you know how to fix and can get parts for, unlike a lot of the more expensive offerings.[/QUOTE
Hi Benjamin
Thanks for the advice.I do have a cracking alloy framed road bike, it’s not for off road which I would want the ebike to be...(possibly a hybrid) neither has it got suspension,so,apart from buying a used mountain bike and converting that I think that an off the shelf one it will have to be......and still in a quandary !