I have been using Hall effect sensors for moderately high currents in a solar panel management system with great success. The sensors I am using are in the low current end of the available range. They offer complete isolation (2.4 kV) and a reasonably large bandwidth (120 kHz). pololu.com has a fairly good selection up to 50 Amperes mounted on a on easily installed carrier. Mounted cost (Allegro ACS724) is $15.00 and (Broadcom ACHS-712) is $4.95. Insertion resistances are 1.2m_ohm and 0.7 m_ohm respectively. I see no reason not to use the Broadcom unless its bandwidth (80 kHz) is of concern. If you need higher current, there are probably other Hall effect sensors from other suppliers available. The current specs refer to the linear response range. I'm sure they would not be destroyed by much larger short duration currentpulses. Check Digikey. I see they list a few Allegro chips in the 100-400 Ampere range under $10.00 (no stock, though)
Stephen
