I'm thinking of buying a ViewSonic monitor for my #2. Good idea?
 

I'm looking to buy a second monitor, one to connect to my MBP. Having spoken with a few people, I get the impression that, for under 1000 dollars - and I'm hoping to spend under 600 truthfully - it really won't make much of a difference what I use, that it won't be professional level anyway. With that in mind, to edit HD footage, I'm thinking of buying this monitor:

anyone have any thoughts or experiences with it?

With monitors as with most other things in life you get what you pay for. To be prepared to pay up to $600 & then consider paying just $189 for a monitor does not make sense. While the price of large monitors has plummeted recently you still need to pay a premium for a good quality monitor. I have never seen the Viewsonic monitor that you link to but am confident that it will be inferior to a $500 Dell UltraSharp. $800 Apple Cinema Display or a $1000 Eizo FlexScan. Buy the best that you can afford it will deliver the best performance & will be an investment for many years of use (likely long after you have replaced the MBP). Be sure to budget for a hardware gizmo to calibrate & match the monitor with the MBP. I use a Spyder3 Elite but there are other brands at around $100.