Cy,
Your story sounds similar to what my brother went through. He got a used 30 sized heli, got to hover a few times but also planted it a few times. It sat for a while, and I talked him into each of us getting T-Rex's. We put them together, got ourselves comfortable with them, learned how to tweak them for best flight, and worked on our flight skills. My skills are up to full throttle figure 8's. His have moved beyond that, and he got his 30 back together. He throws that around the sky. He is putting togehter a 50 sized heli so that he will not have the limitations that a 30 has.
So, your plan is good.
I do like the T-Rex, and the case I got for it keep the heli, transmitter and spares nicely bundled. But you can easily throw $600-700 at this model.
Vince