Ed S,
I partially agree with your post.
Buy the Sullivan starter and battery pack. Then go online and buy the batteries, they'll be a lot cheaper. I paid about $3 each for 1800s, around 50% savings.
I think I got them from Battery USA, but there are a lot of places online, many get mentioned in these forums. There are a couple of forums that are primarilly dealing with electricity in some way.
Good Luck,
KW_Counter