Hello and welcome! I got a book when we got our Syrian, but I still made mistakes and have learned loads on here. The best tip I can give (which others will say too) is to get the biggest cage you possibly can! Firstly this saves money in the long run, as many of us get a cage and then realise it's not big enough a) for the Hamster to be happy in and b) to fit in the right size wheel etc. I'd recommend a 100cm cage for a Syrian. The minimum recommended size is 80cm x 50cm continuous floor area. I have an 80 x 50 cage and I still think it's a bit cramped for our Syrian and am now going to upgrade to a 100cm cage. It sounds huge, and maybe looks huge, but it will easily stand on top of a chest of drawers for example. What use is the top of a chest of drawers anyway?! Usually they just have small stuff on top that can go somewhere else. It doesn't matter if there's a slight overhang.
Second tip is - Syrians need a 29cm wheel and a good depth of substrate for digging - so your cage needs to be high enough for both.
A good cage would be the Alexander cage, sold by Zooplus, which has very good customer service.
Great deals on small pet cages at zooplus: Alexander Small Pet Cage
There are reviews and customer photos on this page to give you an idea of different layouts. It comes with three houses and shelves, but the wheel it comes with is too small (most cages come with a wheel that's only big enough for a mouse).
Either of these two wheels would be good
Wonderland Exercise Wheel: Great Small Pet Accessories at zooplus
The 29cm version - I have it, it's great, virtually silent, but probably needs waterproofing with plastikote before use. That's also the downside to the Alexander cage - the wood platforms need waterproofing.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Superpet-Spi...Silent+spinner
The silent spinner above is more expensive though. The wood one is only cheaper because Zooplus sell them cheaper!
You don't have to put all the levels in the Alexander though, but as it is quite high it needs setting up so that a Hamster has a soft landing if it falls from the top, so filling the base with substrate is a good idea.
There is also this Barney cage which is 100cm and less than £50. It has the same base as the Alexander, but isn't quite so high so less worry about falls - but with this cage I'd recommend a wheel that fixes to the bars like the Silent Spinner as you'd have less floor and shelf space with a freestanding one.
Barney Pet Cage | Great deals at zooplus!
I also really like this Skyline Tilo cage, which is basically exactly the same size as the Barney but comes with different things in the cage and is a different colour - I prefer the cage contents in the Tilo - the house is a good big house and doesn't take up much floor space, and the log tunnel looks great!
Skyline Tilo 100 1506 Rodent Cage: Amazon.co.uk: Pet Supplies
So you need a good size cage, a good size wheel, substrate for the bottom of the cage, paper strips for bedding material, a water bottle, food bowl and some toys like cardboard kitchen roll tubes. There are lots of toys available for hamsters but most of them are too small for Syrian hamsters - rat size toys are best for Syrian hamsters. Here are two of our Syrians favourite cage accessories - his rat size sputnik and his cardboard hay house - the hay house has a small door but it's ok if it's on the substrate as they can dig down a bit to get in and out, plus it's so light it's easily moved or knocked over.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nobby-Sputni...ds=rat+sputnik
Naturals Carrot Cottage for Small Animals
I got the small carrot house.
I've added a photo of my 80cm cage so you can see that it doesn't quite have enough space! Everything fits in, and he does have quite a big house, but it doesn't leave much floor area for playing and digging, and a really important thing for hamsters is having enough floor space, so a 100cm cage would be much better for a syrian and larger toys - and I'm working on it! The second photo is after adding a 10cm rat chew tube to the roof of the cage.
Oh yes and a house for them. But those three cages all come with a house.
The rat sputnik looks huge when you open it, but doesn't look so huge once inside the cage. It hangs lower than the smaller sputnik too so not so far to fall if they jump out.
If you have a look at the 'lets see your cages' thread, you'll get lots of ideas. It's a good idea to get your cage all set up so things don't need changing much once your Hamster arrives in its new home, as they get quite stressed by changes, especially for the first two weeks when they're settling in.
When you've had your hamster a few weeks you'll know whether or not it's a chewer. Any fabric materials are best avoided for hamsters - some people have hammocks if their hamsters aren't chewers, but it's best to wait and find out - ours isn't a chewer but he still tried to chew a hammock when I put it in.
For ideas on what to use for substrate have a look here.
Substrate poll
Sorry this is so rambly! Basically - cage that's big enough, avoid toys marketed for hamsters as they're only big enough for dwarf hamsters. Never get fluffy or cotton bedding or any kind of material (hamsters can die if they swallow it) - stick to wood, paper and cardboard in the cage and make sure things are set up so there are no high falls and there's a soft landing under any higher areas.