I have one of the ones like the city of Somerville subsidises. It's a big black box. It doesn't smell or have lots of flies -- don't put non-vegetable matter in and that won't be a problem.

I haven't taken any compost out yet, because I haven't needed it, it doesn't fill quickly (scraps shrink quite a lot), and you do have to aerate and water it for fast results. But, it was super cheap ($30?). If you want fast compost you can get one of those tumbling ones, but when I looked at them they were like $120-$150, which is just ridiculous.