Budget-minded, yet performance worthy off-season tires
I'm going to be needing a replacement set of tires for the off-season as my current Vredestein Fortezza SE's are getting pretty worn and have several lacerations in the tread from the increasing amount of road debris this time of year. I need tires that will serve dual-duty on my commute and then the off-season base miles during the upcoming crappy months here in the pacific northwest. I don't have a ton of $$ to throw down, otherwise I'd just get a set of Specialized Armadillo's, but need to be $$ conscious as baby #3 is en-route on approx 3 weeks, we'll have lots of medical bills to pay, etc. However, I still need a set of quality puncture-resistant tires that are still relatively lightweight (sub-300grams would be nice) and yet still offer some performance advantages over your $15 kevlar-belted tires on sale at Performance.
What do you use and recommend? It'd be nice to keep the set of tires under $50 if at all possible - although I do realize that severely limits my choices.