Our choice:
Buy the best you can afford. Buy what you like the best . . . otherwise you'll not be happy and be wondering 'what if we . . . '
Yes, have ridden 30-some brands/models/makes of tandems including the old Burleys, which in their day were the most bang for the buck for folks getting into tandems.
Yes, owned a custom built (in '93) Co-Mo that we put 56,000 miles on. Photo of us on that Co-Mo and on our current Zona full c/f custom tandem with only 40,000 miles on the odo.
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem