Pleasantly surprised

Author's Rating:

Pros: compact and light. very easy to use. impressive results in low light. nice zoom.

Cons: short battery life, short recording time, usb port...but no drivers

The Bottom Line: 
Very nice camcorder. Easy to use, ultra portable, great image/sound quality. Re: Hidden usb port, I hear PC users can find drivers to work with this model fairly easily.

Author's Review
This was a walk-in on the spot buy, I had not researched this product before purchasing. My heart sank somewhat after I got home and read various opinions on it. However - after using it in both daylight and low light even no light conditions and then tinkering with the colour settings a bit, I can confidently say I'm pretty impressed with this little handycam.

The zoom is great - those having trouble with focusing while zooming you're probably just going too fast. Playback images were sharp on a 27" screen and the sound quality was excellent - nice range. I shot outside in a breeze & I did not experience any sound distortion.

The low light performance I could not fault at all. Remember it's not exactly a high end piece, don't expect it to perform like a $2000 device...but it's definitely more than adequate for home movies - albeit short ones, which is my main gripe. Others being the battery life and connectivity issues. I'm still trying to find a workaround to get this thing talking to my mac via the 'super secret' usb port- I hear it is possible.

Also, make sure you know where to get your hands on a ready supply of mini DVDs before buying this.