I bought the Hansgrohe Starck hand shower with its own separate wall-mounted volume control. I used it today for the first time and love it. It probably gives out less water than other round-head showers, but it was fine for me.
I bought the Hansgrohe plastic hose to hang it but my contractor recommended that I throw it out and buy a metal hose: http://www.hansgrohe-usa.com/us_en/120780.htm
I also bought a wall holder to hold the hand shower: http://www.hansgrohe-usa.com/us_en/120788_31353734375F32375F3630333435.htm
This is the volume control trim I bought separately for the hand shower: http://www.hansgrohe-usa.com/us_en/120774_31353734395F32375F3436363531.htm

If you are unsure about which parts go together, call Hansgrohe and they will put it all together for you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hansgrohe Starck hand shower

I'm in the midst of redoing my master bath, and almost bought the type of handshower you're describing. At the last minute, I decided to go with the slide bar handshower instead of the wall mount, but here are two you might want to check out. They are both wall mounts with three spray settings.

http://www.deltafaucet.com/bath/details/56613.html http://www.deltafaucet.com/bath/details/56513.html

I went with Delta primarily because I was looking for a shower valve trim that would allow me to operate the water temperature and volume independently (and I've had good experiences with Delta in the past). It will be a few weeks until they're installed, so I can't speak to experience using them.

I bought my shower parts from National Builder Supply. They had the best prices and I had ordered from them in the past.

Love my Hansgrohe with the coated plastic hose. I'll use it again when we build mainly because I like that its quiet (doesn't clink on the tile) and warm... nothing like getting goosed with a metal loop to wake you up in the AM)!
Seriously though my coated hose is 2 years old now and looks beautiful.

We went with a Moen slide hand shower and it's wonderful.

Thanks for all the great responses! I'm looking at all of them, but again...I have to have the kind that comes out of the wall and hooks onto itself. I can't install the wall bar, or a seperate hook to hang the showerhead without putting another hole in my fiberglass shower unit which I don't want to do. Can any of these models be configured to do that with just ordering extra parts? And again, can you tell me why the big differences in price? When comparing shower heads with say, 3 spray choices, why would there be such a disparency in prices? Sometimes even within the same manufactor! What features are creating the price differences?

Since I bought Grohe, I am most familiar w/ their products-so that is what I have linked for you. I think every brand makes a connection like this.

At least w/ Grohe, part of the price difference within their line is styling. They have what they refer to as an "Every Day Collection" or something like that. They make a point of saying that they have the same components inside the valves. They are just a little less high style. I bought high-style, more expensive fixtures where I could see them (and cared) and cheaper shower heads/ valve trim because you can only see the plumbing once you are inside the shower. It is not on display and quite frankly, I want function over form in shower components. (Sink faucets, towel racks, and just about everything else I want form over function, LOL.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Grohe one piece hand held shower mount

The Delta handshower mentioned by az88 can also be ordered with a fixed mount. It looks like it attached to the pipe.

I have a hansgrohe in my masterbath that we installed during a remodel three years ago. It has the plastic coated hose. Works beautifully. Love it. Looks as good today as the day we bought it. In fact I am redoing the hall bath and am looking to use Hansgrohe again in there.

Love, love, love my Moen handheld shower, four function combo, massage rinse....with slide bar. I put this in my guest house and am putting this in all my guest bathrooms...my son-in-law is 6'7" so it fits everyone!

Here is a link that might be useful: Moen Handheld shower with slide bar

I would steer clear of both Delta and Moen if you want to "ensure that I get a firm spray that will easily rinse soap/shampoo from the body and hair." For that you will have to dig out the flow restrictor from the handheld and when we did this with my Moen, it cracked the handheld because the integrity of the handheld was so poor that it couldn't withstand the extra volume. And now after about 15 years, the replacement handheld is not keeping its fixed position on the slide bar. I cannot wait to scrap it when we redo the master bath.

I'm a huge Grohe fan because as I've posted countless times, the flow restrictors are a piece of cake to remove. I have the Relaxa handheld system in my main bath and they are amazing. They are 15 years old and look as good as day one. I have the metal hose in there and no issues.

The problem is that you want a mount like we had when he had Water Pik Shower Massage (adding handheld to existing plumbing). I'm not sure it will be easy to find that type of setup with higher end brands. I would take a look at the WP Shower Massage. THey've come a long way since we installed on in the 80s with different finishes and styles. I cannot speak to their water flow however, but I suspect you might have the same issue with low water flow. I would contact them and ask if it is possible to remove the restrictor.

Have you gone to a good plumbing supply place and touched any of these handhelds?

I was astounded, in not a good way, how cheap so many of them felt in my hand. Big old hunks of plastic wrapped in shiny foil finish. I understand the plastic to save you from dropping the head and breaking a tile or toe, but still some felt so cheap.

I was also able to check the spray on several models too.

Chose a Rohl, solid, simple, good spray.