I can’t give you any input on what’s a good cam, I can however give yuo a link I found years ago on FR.
Poor Man’s Steady-Cam
If you want to build one yourself, you can do so for only $14 and the instructions are freely available at steadycam.org
Just visited the site. Great resource. I’ve considered the tool, but it was too expensive....until now.
Have you built one of these SteadiCams? Our family will be visiting the hardware store after purchasing a camcorder. This is great.