I wasn't even looking for a mini DV but on emerging from Jessops last month but one, they had a special offer on a JVC GRD-70 for £199.95 which was far too big a bargain to leave on the shelf.
You will need a fairly reasonable PC and one with Firewire and a goodly amount of hard disk free, to get the best from a mini DV. Editing and authoring suites are a worthwhile add on and make the production of some sleep inducing family opus so much easier. I use Pinnacle Studio and there are some Google bargains there as well.
Mini DV is so much more enjoyable than older forms of camcorder and the chances of producing (and making copies of) reasonable productions are very much higher than in times gone by.
Conan
Conan