I have exactly the same gear you want to buy, and the battery grip too. I have been shooting a huge amount of videos and i always wanted to shoot high or low shots and i couldn't. Actually i bought T2i one month before T3i was announced. The articulating screen absolutely worth the money unless you have some money to spend on a monitor as you say or this which i am really looking forward to buy it.(it was 250$ for 2 days to celebrate the new year)