I faced pretty much the same decisions you're facing when I got back into flying (except I was a control line guy -rc was too expensive). I took a path similar to darrel_f, with a few detours. After wasting money on a Megatech piece of junk, I got an Aerobird that was sturdy and fun to learn on. A friend flew the T-hawk and it's similar. I, too, coughed up the $ for a Hitec Flash 5 setup and went right into a GWS P-51 Mustang. Big mistake! Now am flying a GWS E-Starter which is a great aileron trainer, and will do moderate aerobatics. I am building a GWS Spitfire (hopefully I'm a better pilot now). Nice thing about the GWS line is that you can take all the stuff from one plane to the next.

Electrics are a blast! Just find and open area, plug in the battery and away you go.