Great story! Welcome to ECF Chatter.
It's funny, your friend is amazingly accurate. That list alone should be a sticky.
I started with a $20 nPro from a gas station (no knock on it at all btw, it proved to me that I could easily give up cigarettes by subbing in vaping), then went with the Riva 3.7's, tried cartridges (even with the pyramid tea bag mod, straw mod, etc.) and went to cartos (which I love, even use the 4081 cartos with an adapter on my 510 batts), then a Prodigy with the same reasoning as you - I wanted that consistent vape throughout the day.
I ended up with a mod. You're about to receive your mod. Your friend is psychic.