I ended up with the 430ex II, my mom put $130 down and I paid the rest. I went with Michael's reasoning which makes sense, I figured I won't get a better price with my mom splitting the cost. Thanks for everyone else's input.

Here's a quick comparison.

This is with the on board camera flash in the kitchen with no lights on.


This is with the 430EX II straight out the box just put it on the camera and took the picture