Seems to have quieted down....I am in your boat. I geeked out on forums for a while and settled on the Mini Erevo. Bought it used. Didnt save too much money that way, it was 'used a handful of times' by a hardcore basher.
I have done 1/3 the damage in the last two months than he did a handful of runs...
ANYway, its crazy easy, and crazy f-ing cool! I run one 3s zippy lipo (After ruining the other one somehow).... It runs a decent amount of time (maybe 25 minutes?) and at the 100% profile setting pretty dam fast.
In fact i usually run it at 50% profile.
If you get one, and decide to go LiPo, try to get in to hobbyking and snap a pair of the 2s LiPo or even the 3s.
The ones I want are on backorder and I think I am getting 4 2200 Mah's...
Run two of those in parallel ( 3s limit for the mini) and I bet your looking at 45+ minutes of fun !

I just need to decide on a charger....Get the Mini for $300, and spend another $100 on a bunlde of Lipo's and charger .
You wont believe how fun this thing is...It does U-turns on a 48" wide sidewalk with room to spare....!

Tony