OK THIS IS LONG WINDED, but i just went through the same process as you a month ago so i think i can offer some good help.
i wouldnt waste my money on a consumer hd camera, all hd is is a different resolution - those cameras are always 1 ccd and produce crap washed out colors compared to regular 3chip cameras like vx series, gl series, and dvx cameras.
Basically, get a 3 chip camera for the best quality nicest shots, and a real camera. if you are gonna spend that much money on a camera you might as well get a fully functioning real camera that will last you for years rather than a point and shoot flavor of the month hd handicam.
On top of that, the thread sizes for the popular skate cams all have really cheap death lenses for them from opteka, whereas with a consumer cam you might be left with wierd threads and a spacer that wrecks your footy or just a wide angle lense.
Ebay and craigslist are your friends. I wound up with a dvx100b and death lense for around $1350 canadian.
Go for VX2k if you think you are gonna be shooting alot of night stuff, and you like a sharp clean digital image. If you prefer the look of film and warmer softer colors (and if you have experience shooting with a film slr camera) pick up a DVX. VX2K shoots insanely well in low light and i noticed this trend of cool night city videos comming out of the east coast. DVX films in 24p as well as 30i so you can get nice long lense shots that look like 16mm.
I just grabbed a dvx and my first day with it i was able to produce kinda nice shots just because it has all the settings you need to get to such as manual zoom and focus rings, and whitebalance, exposure etc right on the side of the camera so you dont have to go through lame menus. It really makes filming more enjoyable when you can actually work to produce a nice shot and be happy with it, whereas filming with a little auto setting digi cam could get boring really fast. I have never enjoyed filming before, but with a sick cam and manual settings you really get into it and wind up having alot of fun (which I figure should be the case given how much money i dumped into it).
I filmed this pretty much after taking the camera right out of the box, so its not even close to what the camera is capable of.
TLDR : you are spending a shitload of money! consider getting a camera that will last a long time and be fun to use.