I've been doing a LOT of searching for a decent and reasonably priced shotgun mic for use with the XL1 (but NEVER to be camera mounted).

The Sennheiser MKE300D is hardly "pro" (and certainly not uni directional AT ALL) in any respect, so I'd want something better than that but without venturing into the realms of spending more than the camera on a mic setup.

Can anyone recommend anything interesting?

Thanks.

What is your budget? That will drive viable options.

The Sennheiser ME66 (and its variants) are popular, as are the AT-835 and AT-815. Some folks like the recently iintroduced. modest priced Azden models.

The MKE300 is intended as a high end consumer and prosumer product, not professional, but has a modest price point. Per the spec it has a super cardoid/lobar pattern, which is directional. See specs at:
http://buy.sennheiserusa.com/ASP/Sennheiser/pdf/mke300.pdf

Yeah I was looking at the AT835, which is a reasonable price for the reported performance.

It's just once you start adding on all the cost of all the shock cradles, booms, wind jamming aparatus, etc. the cost more than doubles!!

Is there a company out there giving Rycote a run for their money by making similar products for like half their price? Or is there a way to try and make something myself?

I doubt its any cheaper but Lightwave Audio (http://www.lightwavesystems.com) makes some excellent products.