VX1000 is ancient... its gonna be 11 years old soon, i wouldn't waste money on it. They're considered like throw away cams in my eyes now. Get a 2100 or 2000. 2000s are cheaper, but they don't have a zoom or record button on the handle, thats really the only down side to them.
Oh and if you can wait like a year, i'm pretty positive the prices are going to drop more on them (if they aren't discontinued by than, HD is supposed to be standard by 2009)