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Hey Dakka,
So, I'm looking at buying my first airbrush soon (next month), and to be honest it's all a little confusing!

I've never used an airbrush before, but for the imminent arrival of some new Eldar minis, I reckon it's about time I bought into one.
I'm looking at either Badger or Iwata, as I've heard and read good things about both. My budget will be around £100-150.

Do any of you have any advice?

Cheers in advance guys and gals.

Whatever brush you buy, just be sure the compressor has a tank. It keeps the PSI nice and stable, keeps the amount of noise minimal, but it will make the compressor slightly more expensive. The increase in cost will be well worth it.

I only have experience with gravity-fed brushes, most sites recommend these.

I've never used anything except for Master brushes, so I can't recommend much on the Iwata/Badger front, though it's well-known they are top-shelf designs.

Good luck.

My first airbrush was a syphon feed. I got a gravity feed and it was tons better. I for sure say get a gravity feed brush.

I have an iwata hp-cs, love it. It is my first brush, and has done right by me so far. 0.35mm nozzle is good as a start.

One important thing when choosing one is how easy it is to get service and spare parts.

I have a badger krome. It was my second brush after using a crappy brush, It's pretty nice but very finicky. Can have clogging issues and what not, otherwise it works VERY well getting finer details and good coverage. I would also suggest not getting a really crappy airbrush first to "practice" with. It is harder to make the transition from crap brush to nice brush than it is just straight learnng on a nice brush. So whatever you do get the airbrush you like out of the gate.

I second the notion of getting a tanked compressor. I got one without a tank and I very much regret it. And will be buying one with a tank soon.

If your prepared to spend the cash go with the iwata, top notch gear. One of mine is almost 10 years old and on its second or perhaps third needle parts are cheap and very available, the engineering is so good they have very few seals and I know of two that were added to appease a certain market but are not even necessary.
As for style I'd err towards suction fed to be honest, the gravity feed is fine but a bit of a nightmare to clean between colour changes where as the suction feed just needs a bottle of water attached and a good blast through, the paint mix can also be kept in the suction feed bottle but there's not really much to pick one over the other in terms of usage they both have their own pros and cons.
The Chinese compressor listed on ebay as an ak186 ( from memory ) is getting good feedback from some very high end users that bought it simply for mobile jobs and are very impressed, would be worth looking into as it's got a tank and regulator too, some kits even come with an airbrush that's apparently pretty good.
Another possibility is the NEO for iwata, a third of the price of the hp-bcs and not far off the quality really parts are the same prices and the only thing I'm not fussed on the the needle cap design as it's a bitch the clean compared to the hp series.
No matter what you get learn to fully strip and clean it and practice dagger strokes non stop cleaning is the most important thing as the slightest speck of dried paint will cause nightmare problems and it much easier to do when the paint is fresh than after it's dried all night.

I still use a Chinese compressor with my airbrushes. You need to make sure you get the one with the proper regulator, and a tank, nice constant flow & good air regulation. I wouldn't shell out on a brand compressor,, though some extra connections might be needed for the line.

Chinese compressor will come with 1 or 2 bad airbrushes. These are fantastic for your first run on non mini's just getting a feel for how air brushes work. It's possible to do shading or large pieces with these on models if you really want. Main problem I found with them is actually the inlets can be a bit dodgy leading to some splatter. They are also useful for learning disassemble and learning to clean etc.

My fave airbrush is Sotar 20/20. But it's a bit like marmite and only advantages over the Renegade is for very fine detail, also parts are expensive. So not really as a first brush.

The Iwata HP range are all very good, the build quality is fantastic.

I currently use a badger krome, it's a great airbrush, but needs treating careful. As has already been said it does tend to suffer from blocks. But you will get that with the finer detail brushes. Just make sure your paint is thinned properly.

As a personal preference I prefer gravity feed, I don't agree it's difficult to swap between colours. I do it often and never have any issues.