Luckily, I haven't got too cash much in my setup, but that's because I already had the tools, most of the connectors and really the know-how to make it work. I am using the keychain camera with the Rx/Tx combo I listed earlier and a small monitor I got for about $30. It's too small to use by itself but I found that a fresnel lens makes it nicely usable. One of my current projects is building a hood with a fresnel lens built in. I think my loss of signal issues are my Tx antenna's orientation. On my hex, it's out to the side on an angle because the landing gear isn't tall enough to go straight down, and props are too close to go straight up. Not sure how much of a difference that will make but it will be on my list of stuff to try while I wait for the hobby funds to build up again to Fatshark level! It may not have anything to do with it. I might just have some interference out here on that frequency. Anyway, those are some of the things I'm working on in addition to more swappable builds and board tuning...You can do that, but you'll still need antennas, batteries, soldering, cutting, a viewing system, (you can buy a tv, and try to wire it up, and hope it doesn't go blank with static, or you can buy a set of goggles, and spend more than the Predator V2 kit), as well as a better camera. The stock camera the cheap kits come with (if it comes with one) are notoriously bad. Almost to the point of being unusable. I went out and bought a $60 board camera right away, hoping that would solve the problem.
Honestly, for the $270, you can't go wrong. The electronics are better all around. I really wish I went this route earlier. I never had success flying FPV before. In just over a week, I am able to fly between trees, over streams, above the trees where I wouldn't have flown LOS.
It's worth the little bit of extra money, for the success.