I also took the plunge into electrics. this is what I bought:
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LNKFB3&P=G
A guy at our club has one and let me fly it with the recommended setup and [X(] I'll have it flying tomorrow
I also bought this:
http://ohiomodelplanes.com/3dbuddy/
I bought the Edge 540 bundle and it's on it's way Yahoo
The next one will be the mini-funtana. I agree with everything you said in regards to the mini