Just do the PF Tek in the sidebar. Make, like 5-10 cakes. It's a cheap, easy way to find how much you like this hobby.

The PF method seems intensive (I don't think I'll be able to mist and fan all that much).

It takes up 150 seconds of your day, total.

And I have seen this "monotub tek" pop up quite a bit. At the risk of repeating the same noob question, any thoughts on which tek would be a good first try?

In your cultivation career, there's never a time that grow methods matter less than when you're inoculating directly with a spore syringe. It just doesn't matter that much - the spores in the 10ml of water are what they are, and there's never going to be a drastic difference from grow method to grow method.

Also, the monotub is just a terrarium, like the shotgun fruiting chamber used in the PF Tek. Each has small annoyances (with a SGFC, you'll be picking perlite out of your carpet at the end of your grow. With the monotub, you lose the convenience of being able to remove cakes and little containers for fruit removal and maintenance). When I'm actively growing, I use both.

I think beginners perceive 'PF Tek' as a shameful set of training wheels and are apprehensive to start with it. There's no reason for that! When I'm taking on a new species or variation, I always start with a multispore inoculation of BRF cakes. It's a tried and true classic and serves as a nice tune-up. Once it's time to fruit, I locate the choice mushroom body from the most aggressive pin set and clone it.

Once you have those genetics isolated, then you can start reaping the benefits of a bulk method - and, by the way, that doesn't mean you have to move on to a monotub or grain spawns. You could keep doing PF Tek and fruiting cakes with your lovely new clones. Lots of brilliant growers do.

Does it have to be PF?

No, but it's still what you should do. Master the principles and hone your sterile technique while the stakes are nice and low.

I saw one that used the 60G(L?) Sterilite container. That looked cool but used "spawn" which I'm not quite certain of yet.

Those clear, 66qt Sterlite containers are my favorite. They're very easy to work with and rarely crack when faced with a drill.

"Spawn" as a noun generally refers to flour, rye berries or bird seed that's colonized with mycelium. "Spawn" as a verb generally means that you're spreading that colonized grain into a nutrient-rich substrate to colonize that as well.

Beware, people are fast and loose with the lingo in the cultivation community.

Good luck.