Totally agree. Buying something relatively expensive like this it just makes complete sense to "road-test" it as much as possible, even if thats limited to handling it in a store. I wouldnt buy a car i hadn't even sat in, and i certainly wouldnt buy a camcorder i hadn't at least got my hands on.

And in response to another post, the V1 is, apparently, due out in early November in Europe, and not December.
This info i have got from someone who has ordered one and that is the timeframe that they are being told the camera will arrive and be available for him to pick up.
Maybe the timeframe has changed or that info wasn't accurate, but thats what i've heard and i haven't heard about it changing.

Fx7 is shipping AFTER the V1, which is the other way round from the way Sony usually do it.

The official price for the Sony V1 is 4600 Euro, the official price for the XH-A1 is 4000 Euro. The price you list for the Sony is a streetprice. The price of the A1 is a MSRP. Both will drop, so the XH-A1 will be cheaper. But as Chris already mentioned, this is not the right discussion for that.

And I still do not get it when people are comparing the V1 with the Z1. Totally different category. The Z1 will be replaced by a Z2. And Sony has some gaps to fill up. They need a higher higher end model. With all the professional jacks, outputs and things like 24p and maybe interchangeable lenses. If I had a choice I would wait for the Z2, but I do not have the time to wait that long.

Like I mentioned before, the V1 is still an option. But there is almost no sample footage available. I just hope Sony will allow people with prototypes to post the footage they shoot with them. I do of course appreciate it when Sony is correcting the shortcomings/errors that people discover. It would be great if they release a flawless camera in December.

The higher end 24p Sony already exists, the XDCAM HD cameras, the F-330 and F350. If they made a 1/3" version it would probably be well over $10K. Sounds to me like you're wishing for the JVC 110.

I'm afraid that the Flawless Camera doesn't exist, and it won't ever exist, from any manufacturer.

And the production models will have been boxed up and shipped out prob some time ago. Sea freight from Japan to Europe takes weeks and weeks, so the production models will be in transit now and are what they are - there's no time for any further tweaking to initial production run.
Mild Firmware updates & bug-fixes happen all the time, but these are obviously only applied to models yet to roll off the production line and models that go into a Sony repair shop.

And on the price thing, i agree not on-topic, but my final point on that is street-prices are what people actually pay and therefore this is oibviously the most relevant price-gap. The MSRP could be Eur50,000 and it doesn't matter one bit. What matters is the price you pay and the gap is around Eur400 and not anywhere near Eur800.