There is (or was) also an Aulos fife in C (same pitch as a descant recorder) - much cheaper, I paid 3 pounds for mine from a charity shop. Saunders Recorders sells (or sold) them. They work but I can't say I got very fired up about the sound.

The best cheap plastic transverse flute I know of is the Tony Dixon. The intonation isn't that wonderful in the upper register but it's easy to play with a nice tone.