I actually considered that before I bought my last camera.............A buddy had an XL1s for sale and I figured with an external monitor I could make it work..........the more i thought on it the worse the idea became. First off if it is raining you have no way to cover themonitor and still use it, second it's bulky how will you transport it back and forth from the tree without scratching it up or possibly breaking it, third, if you are going to add any shoe mount accesories where will you put the monitor?

The new Panasonic DVX100b models have come down in price and can be purchased for $2350 at reputable places, on ebay they should be going for far less, if they are not people are paying too much for them..........the DVX100p used to retail for $3500, but since the discontinuation of the DVc30 Panasonic slashed the price of the camera.That is another model to look for ,the DVC30, it uses 1/4" 3ccd has a 16x optical zoom and has manual controls similiar to the DVX100..........the only problem is they are no longer made, but if you can find one with low hours on it you should be able to get it for less than$1500 and it would be a great starter camera.