OK - in a large city, an HT is probably the way to go. Otherwise get a mobile rig. I like the Kenwood G707 (now on closeout sales)

RE HTs - the "wonder" mico HTs are nice, BUT.... They ALL have problems - be it the Icom T90a (which I own), The VX7, the Kenwood equivilent etc -
1)They ALL get hot under heavy use.
2)The are all somewhat limited to battery life
3)The AA/AAA battery packs that you can get for them TEND to give lower power
4)Being as broad on receive as they are, they tend to suffer from interference in high RF environments - the front end just gets overloaded
5)The audio out is lacking - they have SMALL speakers, and fairly low power amps - this is why you see so many web pages talking about headphones for them (and skip the tiny shoulder mikes they sell for them)

I think one of THE best buys out there is the Icom T7H - yeah, only dual band - yeah, no alpha display - but a good SOLD inexpensive dual bander that has an optional battery pack that gives you full power output. If you want to spend more, the Icom w32a (true dual VFO version) is a great rig.

In many ways I'm sorry I GAVE away my T7H, but it was a gift to a real good friend who had just gotten his ham ticket

I'll also pass along what one of my Elmers said to me "Don't sweat your first dual bander too much. You'll probably end up with more than one fairly quickly if you stay in the hobby, and you'll learn what you like" (BTW Boy was he right - I will say I've gone a bit overboard - I ONLY have 6 HTs, and 17 mobile rigs right now - most in use, but some are "spares" as I do disaster work and there is nothing worse than gear failing - and almost all the gear is Commercial Radios)