I've said it before and I wish I had a copy of my comments so I didn't have to recreate the thoughts.
I think that a lot of it comes down to four things. Patience, funds, natural ability, ultimate goal.
The first two are pretty much no brainers. You know where you stand with those two items. The third plays a significant part in the equation. There are those born with an ability to play ball sports or most any eye / hand coordination game successfully on their first try. It's a natural ability. There are too many examples to bother with but I think you know where I'm going. For some it comes natural, for some it's a struggle, but they get there and for others there's no amount of practice that's gonna get the job done. Figure out where you are with that. Try a high grade simulator and give it a good try if you have no idea where you are. If you struggle, you'll go broke learning a collective pitch, but if you stay with it you'll get it. If you tend to be a natural at this sort of stuff, you needn't bother with an interim fixed pitch helicopter. Just get the good stuff, practice a lot, work with a sim, then go fly. One of our own, Kenn, is a combat helicopter pilot in Iraq. Being a real combat helicopter pilot, obviously he 'gets it' and he went from CX2 to a B400 to 3D flight is an amazingly short time.

Finally is your ultimate goal. A few among us are doing 3D stuff. Others are struggling to work with the collective pitch birds. There are a few of us who are quite satisfied to fly basic back yard patterns, at a scale pace - right side up. It doesn't take anything fancy to do that. That's the category I'm in -no pressure, just relaxing fun. Some are designers / experimenters who would rather build and tune than fly. Others fly until they crash, then rebuild and fly again.

I see two directions from where you are.
For cheap and basic, there are the fixed pitch single rotor helicopters. They are a good jumping off point if you aren't sure where you are. A hundred dollar bill will put one in your hands.. Upgrades are simple and very effective. Parts are cheap. Setup is simple. These helicopters are very tough. IF you decide that was the wrong direction, you get most of your money back when you sell them. Or keep the fixed pitch around as an indoor trainer. They can be a handful, but they really do teach a skill set that you need.
Or you can get a B400. They are fairly generic, well made and as with most anything we get into, the more you put into it, the more you get out of it. You will probably be happy for a year or two and then you'll either be ready for something more, or you'll decide you got in over your head. Most of the guys on the eflight "Struggling with Single Rotor Basics" thread have gone from simple hover through the misery of struggling with forward flight and patterns and are moving on. Some of us are less dedicated and are still enjoying messing with our simpler craft. It's really personal at that point.

We all have opinions. You just got mine.
The big thing is that you HAVE FUN!
Soloboss