btc_uzr - Thank you for the post...I totally agree with you, and I'm not getting into this to get rich. I'm a techy and this is very interesting stuff, seems like a fun hobby.
With that said... I want to know as much as I can, and there is so much conflicting information out there its hard to know whats what.
I also don't want to buy hardware only to find out it won't mine much or get any ROI. That's why I'm here talking to you smart/experienced folks.
I'd recommend you in this case to keep an eye on things (KnCMiner 2nd Gen, HF/Cointerra next batches after first shipment).
Until spring next year I'd consider watching the things, only, as there's too much in movement right now and nobody knows how things might turn out.
This year is really the most craziest one in the btc history I guess: network increase, new ASIC manufacturers, btc value explosion, BFL finally shipping (the old crap), ...
There's also stuff like the USB miners -- i think they're going for ~$20 or less now, haven't checked in the past month. Those will let you get your feet wet & play with the software side of mining. There's even limited HW tweaking (crystal swap/VR mod) -- won't make it profitable, but still fun.