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What is a cheap way to get a low light camcorder?

I am a college student and i dont have a lot of money. My friends and i like to go out at night and i want to record some of our adventures. The quality doesnt have to be super. I have a fair experience with electronics so hacking a camcorder is not such a big deal. but i would rather buy

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1. Camcorders have hardware chips built into the board of the unit that enables them to have a variety of features, including low light sensitivity. It is not cost effective to replace the chips that are built into the board, and not possible without reverse engineering the board itself. You may look at the LUX rating of a camcorder, whether you have control over the F-Stop of the lens, Gain settings and/or shutter settings - all of which adjust how much light is let through the lens. I shot some stuff on a Sony VX2000 a few years back - pretty good low light capabilities. The Canon XL2 wasn't as good for low light as it had a slower lens. The Panasonic DVX100 has a good low end. When you shoot low light, make your shutter speed as open as possible (1/24, 1/40, etc), make your F-stop open as much as possible (1.8, 2, etc), and crank your Gain settings up all the way. If the camera doesn't label the above settings chances are there's comperable settings to get you what you want. Just open up everything all the way. I just bought the Sony HC-1 and it has terrific low light capabilities - even a night vision mode that works at close range! I'd hit up craigslist for someone with an old DV camcorder. Make sure you test it and make sure it'll give you the low light quality you want.
2. How do you hack a camcorder ? Anywhere you go there are yard sales , auctions and almost every convenience store has a local bargain paper available free , where people place adds to sell items , any one of these sources could find you the owner of an almost shinny used camera . EBay has loads of them too , and if your good at it you can snatch one up cheap . Lots of places have clearance items or re furbs . I would try one of them too .. I would buy a refurbished unit any time because to my way of thinking all they are better than new ..they have cured a problem that can be a design fault or a bad batch of components so think about that too . Almost any camcorder made with in the last few years have low lux ratings . Oh I know .. any time you go with your friends cut back on 1 beer then put that money in a jar and probably with in a month you will save enough to buy a new camera ...
3. Ebay.com go there theres like a million camcorders you can find w/ low prices.
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5. In addition to what everyone else has said, it's worth noting that most newer camcorders are able to see infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye (just point your remote control at one - you'll see the pulse of light you can't otherwise see.) Many Sony camcorders (even the cheaper models) make use of this capability by incorporating infrared LEDs into the front of the unit, which gives you excellent nightvision in even total darkness. I have one, I love it. It doesn't work for filming things that are more than a good 20ft from the camcorder, but you can get an extender light for pretty cheap on eBay that will boost your range if thats an issue. I'd look on eBay for any sony camcorder that meets all of your other requirements and has NightShot - they've been offering it for years, so I'm sure you'll be able to find one.