Thanks folks. Yeah, kicks will always be a pain without a proper rig. I tune my bass drums to be very short and clicky (most of the time), so I feel as thought they'll at least cut through just fine even if the tone suffers. I've managed to find some places carrying warrantied factory refurb units for as low as 180-ish from time to time, which would make it even more of a no-brainer.
I wonder though, is the software included any decent? I'm defnitely not putting up with Windows Movie Maker's crap any more, as it doesn't even do proper HD.