I am seriously considering the jump from the 2100 to either the FX1 or Z1. I am also interested in purchasing the HVR-M10U deck to go along with the camera. Most of what I have found on the web and on this forum states that the deck is the companion to the Z1. B&H sells the Z1/M10 as a kit. I believe I read somewhere on this forum that the M10U is basically an FX1 in a box. Does anyone have any comments, pro and/or con on using the M10U deck with the FX1 vs the Z1?

A little background: I shoot strictly for hobby. I have studied as best I can the differences between the 2 cameras short of actually reading and understanding completely, each camera's manual. The difference in price between the 2 packages is approx. $1300.00 from B&H.

I've only used the deck a couple of times.

Once, for recording an s-video feed of an event.
Pros - lots of connectivity choices, teeny monitor on the front, records in DV as well as HDV. This thing is a LOT smaller than it looks in ads.
Cons - small cassettes only, no separate monitor output with timecode character insertion. Wished I'd had my trusty DSR-20 on this job.

Once, for capture of 18 HDV tapes via firewire.
Pros - works fine, teeny monitor, doesn't take much desk space... everything you'd want for a capture deck.
Cons - none.

For my live event work I'd wait for a deck that takes 3-hour loads and record in the camera in the meantime. For a camera companion for capture it's a great deck.

Why not just buy an hc1 to use as a deck? If this is your hobby the hc1 would be a vaction cam/deck and the fx1/z1 your main cam. I just don't see the point to spending all that money on that if your not gonna make money off of it.