I notice that you list West Des Moines as your location. I have been through Des Moines a few times on road trips, and it seems like a fairly large city. I am guessing that there are probably a few options available for dive shops. Although it is nice (not to mention convenient) to frequent the closest shop, perhaps a visit to some of the other shops in the Des Moines area might be as they say, "just what the doctor ordered".
Given your situation, my recommendation would be to hold off on getting a BCD for a while. Rent a few first and find out what you like. Scubaboard is very biased toward the BP/W, but one solution does not solve all issues. Maybe, you might find that a different style works better
for you, so try a "jacket style", try a "back inflate", try a BP/W, try whatever you can get your hands on. See what works best
for you, because, after all, that is what is important.
When I started out, I bought a relatively cheap reg. It worked great at depth, but as I got near the surface and lower on air (for instance at a safety stop) it became harder to breathe. That was several years ago, but my reg was the first piece of my gear that I upgraded, and I haven't looked back. To answer your question, some regs will breathe easier and more consistently than others. (FWIW, I currently use an Aqualung Legend.)
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OK, back to my recommendations.
Dive packages appear to be a very good deal initially, and in the short term, they are. They get you diving with your own gear at a relatively reasonable cost. It is the long term though where they turn out to not be such a great deal. Also, by buying your gear individually, you are not committed to a large purchase all at one time and you can get a piece and then save a little while if you need to to pick up the next piece.
If I were just starting out, the first thing that I would get would be a computer. The big reason for this is because the dive computer will have the largest learning curve. You probably don't want to try to learn how to use a new computer every time you go diving. While there are several that will meet your needs, I think right now, the one that I would recommend would be the
Shearwater Peregrine. It is not Air Integrated, so you will also need to get an SPG to go with it.
The next piece up gear that I would get would be a reg set. Again, there are many good choices out there but one that has consistently good reviews is the
Deep 6 reg set. (Deep 6 can also hook you up with an SPG.)
As I said, I'd hold off and try a few BCDs before you make a final decision.
This will in all likelihood cost you more than your target of $1k, but I believe it will probably cost you less in the long run.