I am to the point where I am saying "Screw Emulators" and I am going to buy a DS card. My budget is 43 US Dollars so which card would I be better off with
Probably the R4DS as it is typically cheaper, there are also ways of patching the M3 firmware to run it on the R4. However, you're going to need to spend a bit more for a microSD.
For $47 you can get an R4DS + Kingston 1GB from dealextreme postage can be a bit slow, but for that price whos complaining?