You're quite right about the "without limited budgets" part. The 5D is
very intolerant of lesser-quality lenses. I was co-judge of a photo
contest earlier this year and noticed that all the 5D shots (in this
particular contest) looked very poor. The other judge and I were
easily able to tell the 5D shots without looking at the EXIF. Now I've
seen spectacular work done with the 5d so I know the camera wasn't at
fault. It was just someone who made the mistake of blowing their
budget on the camera body and economizing on their lens or lenses.

Hypothetically, which of these two "build paths" would be better for
the foreseeable future:

-FULL FRAME SET-
Canon 5D with
EF 24-105 f/4L IS
EF 70-200 f/4L

or

-CROPPED SENSOR SET-
Canon 30D (or 400D) with
EF-S 10-22mm
EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS
EF-L 70-200mm f/2.8 IS

Either build path will cost roughly the same.  Gut reaction of most
people will be the 5D, of course.  Full Frame superiority and all that.
But this full frame versus cropped sensor argument is only half the
battle.  The other half is between the lenses.  People are constantly
talking and talking about the importance of lens over body.  So this
may be time to walk the walk:

The lens set for the cropped sensor has Image Stabilization for 90% of
its focal range, instead of only 47% in the 5D lens set.  It has a
significantly more versatile focal range (16-320mm versus 24-200mm)
*and* it's one full stop faster (f/2.8 vs f/4).  All these things would
render the 5D at a disadvantage in many situations: low light,
handheld, stopping action, ultra wide angle, telephoto, or any
combination of these five things.  Having no weather sealing on two
EF-S lenses seems trivial in this instance, considering none of these
camera bodies (including the 5D) are sealed against the elements to
begin with.

Although both build paths cost the same, gut reaction says it's not
smart to plunk down $2700 on a cropped sensor body with 2 EF-S lenses.
You'll be sorry when full frame bodies become the norm.  But would
spending the same $2700 on the 5D be any smarter?  By the time EF-S
lenses are obsolete, the 5D body would also be outdated.  It'll
probably be at least three generations behind at that point.  The 5D
will be about as exciting to photographers then as the D60 is right
now.

I just don't see the appeal of a 5D right now, especially for hobbyists
without unlimited budgets.  It's nice to show off a full frame to your
friends, but it's not practical.  I think that camera would only make
sense for professionals, and for people who already possess an
extensive array of canon "L" lenses from their film days.  Otherwise,
bleh...