ok well update for anyone who actually cares..
so I went to REI with my brother to buy the bike, when he sees a 2009 scott cr-1full carbon frame, hundreds of dollars on sale for $1200. Basically the deal we worked out was that I buy that bike with a little help from him and get to ride it for a few weeks, and then he buys me a roughly $800 bike when he gets the cash in like 2 weeks.
So basically I am not restricted to REI anymore (which was because I had the money on REI gift cards).
So I was actually thinking I'd go with bikes direct.. Are their bikes very hard to set up? Quality? It seems like i could get A LOT more bang for my buck, and if so, I'm gonna have to go that route