There's a long list of output options Final Cut so you can pretty much output whatever you want. IIRC the recommended method is to "export" a high quality master file and then use that to subsequently produce a file suitable for your end use. H.264 (for example) is one of the many options.

The downside of FCP is (as you mentioned) the price. I'm (kind of) fortunate as I'm a pro photographer for my day job so it's a business expense. There used to be a cheaper version - Final Cut Express - around a few years ago but that seems to have vanished of late. Apple are annoyingly prone to doing stuff like that and then stopping the older versions from running on later operating systems. I still have a 10yr old version of FCP running on a 10yr old Mac but it's too slow to edit HD footage on. Microsoft, for all their faults, tend to be much better with this.

p.s. Tim - just enjoyed watching your video. Very well done (and your wife is a star!). Can I ask about your use of commercial music in parts of it. I've always worked on the premise that if the final version would be shown in public - YouTube for example, or at a bike meeting - or even in the local village hall - then commercial music = royalty / legal issues to resolve.

Because I'm using commercial music in parts of what I'm currently editing it will just be for family and friends to view and any version that ended up on YouTube would have to have the sound track revised. I'm not even certain where I stand with music that was playing in the background when I was filming other stuff - something that happened a couple of times with clips I want to use.