I am almost ready to make the plunge and get the Rebel XT camera. I have been thinking that I would just get the kit with the lens but I have read that this lens is really poor. Just how poor is this lens. I am just an average user. The reason I am going for an SLR camera is for the speed and clarity of the pictures.

If I were to just get the body and get a different lens, what would be recommended? I want to keep it cheap. There has got to be something out there that will satisfy my requirements. I don't understand the terms for the zoom of a lens but my current point and shoot camera (Canon A70) has a 3x zoom and I wouldn't mind something that is comparable or maybe a little more...maybe 5x. If I need a lens with much more zoom, I can always borrow a lens from my parents (75-300).

I hope this makes sense.