Looking at getting into e-cigs, advice needed.

After stalking the sub some for everyone's preferences and advice I'm left with a lot of new questions then I started with.

I was under the impression that you buy an e-cig pack which comes with the cig, cartridges, charger, etc, and you are good to go. Turns out there are a lot more options. Some people fill their own cartridges, tons of different vape types, etc.

A lot of the sidebar posts seem to be outdated with dead links and info from 9 months ago.

What I'm really looking for is an e-cig that is the standard size of a regular cig. Some of the options I found look more like a bowl than a cig. I don't want something inconvenient to hold on me or awkward looking to smoke. A friend of mine recently got a blu kit which are the size I anticipated they all would be. However the price on those seems high and they seem to be highly advertised so I'm thinking there might be better options.

They have a deal right now for buy one get one free on their starter kit for $69.95
http://www.blucigs.com/starter-kit-white.html

Is this the sort of thing I'm looking for? How are standard tobacco flavors compared to real cigs? How long do the cartridges typically last? (I smoke half a pack to a pack a day) Is it possible to go from a kit like this to filling my own cartridges later? Are there places I can buy this stuff in person or am I going to have to buy online every time I need refills? Is there an easy way to tell when a cartridge is going to run out? I'd hate to run out unexpectedly and then have to wait on an order to ship. That would definitely cause me to relapse...

Sorry to be just another "Hi, I'm new, help me" post, but after digging a bunch and just finding weird numbers and names all over, plus a lot of outdated info, I'm a bit at a loss...

Thanks!