Last year my son was receiving a big sports award in his sport category and I wanted to be able to preserve the memory forever.  I had an older model camcorder that I didnt feel was reliable and went out shopping around for a small lightweight reliable camcorder.  I spoke to a few friends and  they recommended the Sony Handycam.  I chose this version because it uses mini disks as well as flash drive.  The mini disks can be played on my computer.  I can review what I record right on the handycam itself because it has a viewer.  Also it has adapters that allow me to plug it directly into my computer and play it on my screen.  I can also download my videos to my computer and save them on it.  The disks hold about 30 mins of recording time.  I purchased a bunch to keep onhand.  When I travel I use a carrying case.  This fits right into my purse and in the palm of my hand.  I also purchased a memory card that I have stored inside the camera.  I got the one with the most amount of space so that it lasts me longer.  I also purchased an extra battery so that I always have a charged spare on me.  The batteries dont tend to stay charged very long.  The good thing is that the batteries are charged right in the camera with the adapter.  This camera has good zoom nice picture color and quality.

pcat23

Hawthorne, NJ

I got this camcorder for Christmas and I'm very pleased with it for the most part.  I say for the most part because a little foul-up occured while we went to see the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center and for some reason all the video on my DVD-RW got erased.  I have no idea what happened, but from then on I made sure to use only DVD-R disks and it didn't happen again.  The DVDs don't hold more that 20 minutes of video on the highest setting and 30 minutes on the medium setting, so I also got the Duo Pro memory stick.  Now I'm confident that I will never lose another video. The videos this takes are very good quality.  The picture was clear and the audio was very good.  I taped my son playing in his school band concert and the sound came out excellent and the anti-shake setting helped the vidoe be steady.  The best part is that when you use a DVD-R, you can just pop it right into your DVD player and see your home movie in minutes.  No hooking up cables, or burning or transferring it, just pop it in and go.  

Brooklynmommy

Brooklyn, NY