Excellent Value

Author's Rating:

Pros: Feature packed, reasonable price, versatile.

Cons: Hard to hold, poor battery life.

The Bottom Line: 
JVC has a LOT of experience building camcorders. I recommend it as I feel it is a very good value for the money. And it gets the job done.

Author's Review
I did a bit of research before settling down to buy this camcorder. I got a fair deal from Best Buy at 341.00. Here are the only faults I have found so far:
1. Battery life is an hour or less. I bought a double capacity one and that problem is solved. Seems the norm for companies to include a mediocre battery with their electronics.
2. Unit is hard to hold onto. Mostly, it sits oddly in my big hand. I put two little bumpers on the top edge and now I can grip it nicely. I just used two silicon drawer bumpers from the hardware store.
3. The button for shooting a still is real easy to hit. I wish there was a way to disable it, as I have taken stills inadvertently.

Overall this camcorder has lots of nice features. I never planned to take many pictures with it, but added a 512 meg SD card (25 bucks) anyway. Pictures turn out o.k. -nothing great but adequate.

I love the size, it is so easy to just grab and go. Optics are very good, and videos turn out great. I was going to buy a Sony, but an equivalent was about 150 bucks more. I just could not justify that. The included software is o.k., but I'm sticking with Pinnacle Studio. I think it's far more versatile.

Overall, I would recommend this unit. For the money I think it is an excellent value.