Not sure what issue partycentralpartygirl may have been experiencing with hers, but I find no need for the stylus. It's a perfectly usable resistive touchscreen, and much more precise than a capacitive one if you use your fingernail (could be a problem for compulsive nail-biters.) However, resistive is old technology and most people are used to capacitive by now, and most resistive screens don't support multitouch.
If you're used to the performance of a Kindle Fire, I wouldn't look into anything significantly cheaper as you probably won't be happy with the speed. There are a bunch in the mid-100s now that run ICS, many the same hardware with different branding. I think I'd have a hard time settling for anything that isn't dual-core, capacitive and at least 600 pixels wide in the smaller dimension (1024x600 is a good size, 800x480 is not.) after the assortment I've had. I'd probably shop for one of these A500s (ha, ha) if I were looking to spend a couple hundred on something.
http://www.ebay.com/ctg/Acer-ICONIA-A50010S16w-16GB-WiFi-101in-Silver-/112225849?_refkw=acer+a500&_pcatid=839&_pcategid=58058&_dmpt=US_Tabletsedit: but yes, as don27dog said, rooting the Kindle Fire may be a good option, the hardware specs aren't bad at all.
