This sounds good man! You wouldn't need anything with grips until you got the basics and you want to try throws. Sometimes its good to have a grip that is heavier though, specially when it come to isolations (fuck, those are still hard for me!). But some pom grips from lanternsmith are always good ;)
Roommates monkey fist finally came in and I got to mess with them for an hour or so today! You totally called it though, massive different on weight, my memory deceived me. Might make some sock poi or just use that as my one frivolous purchase with my tax refund.
Fire monkey-fists are so nice to play with. I like their stable round flame when on fire :) Going to upgrade my pod-poi with some grips soon. And also ordering some monkey fist fire poi. My current fire poi are not really nice to spin and are waaaay too light