Pros: Color viewfinder, ease of controls ONCE YOU READ THE bleeping INSTRUCTIONS, decent audio… great image stabilization - tapes offer great video (not compressed), some people might like the cute light - and the price is great.
Cons: For $200, it’s not right to “not like” anything about this product. From a past JVC, I can concur that the lens cap will inevitably not “click and stick” like it does brand new, but I will make sure to push in on the tabs and hopefully prevent that.
Summary: I felt a need to “counter” some of the negativity from some people that don’t show a lot of experience with this price/range and type of camcorder. First, ALL internal mic, tape camcorders pick up some amount of noise, because there’s a motor turning. But first timers seem to be hazy regarding this. Second, you can get crappy colors and “faded hues” from ANY camera if you don’t educate yourself by READING THE bleeping MANUAL. There’s such a thing as white balance. Read the instructions, understand it - and set it accordingly. Why do SOME people have videos posted on YouTube with this camera showing GREAT videos? Could it be they got past the hump on the learning curve? There are many people who post reviews and it makes it tough for someone like ME to get an honest evaluation of the product. I BOUGHT the camera because I saw it on clearance, and then I looked it up online before I got “too into it.” I wanted to see that it wasn’t a POS. Of course, I’ve used a JVC before, and it was AWESOME. I recorded much footage four-wheeling, got decent stills from selecting a good frame during playback, etc. Still, after reading some of the people I thought this was a worse camera, possibly. No, it actually has much better zoom, better battery usage - and although the light is marginal - it will at least light up a subject in a dark room - no light at all means no picture at all.
Bottom line is this… When you read REVIEWS by people, I would like to pass on some sage advice I’ve learned. If you see SOME people raving about a product, and others saying “it’s a POS,” consider the operator. If it was truly a POS (piece of garbage, for the older folks) then NOBODY would be posting goodness about it. Obviously, it’s working for SOME people, and others are probably ill-informed, or they are expecting 8 cylinders when they only paid for 4. Do not forget this is not your TV production/news camera. It’s an inexpensive camcorder, and yes - like every other TAPE camcorder I’m aware of - it requires firewire if you want to download footage to your computer. That’s a no-brainer, and the USB is only for the card images. I read somewhere where someone said they “could” use the USB, but it would take FOREVER to download video. I’m not sure of this, but I want to SAY I’m not sure of it. A firewire is an inexpensive cable and most modern computers have a port to accept it. It should not be a “hurdle” to anyone looking to download pics, although apparently some people are enraged that their older computer can’t handle modern equipment. wink
Suffice it to say, I was going to return this because I thought I might like the much cheaper Canon 900 with an external mic plug (in case I wanted to make professional recordings), but I think I’ll be using this more for my son’s football games and just “on the fly” video grabbing. And then it will be nice to snap a frame during playback, if I want, to send to someone. Not EVERYONE wants to see boring video that the shooter thinks is the cat’s meow. And for those complaining about the camera resolution - go buy yourself a cheap camera. This is a VIDEO recorder FIRST - consider the card to capture pics a nifty “toy.” I have a Canon Digital Rebel XT SLR if I want to take awesome, poster-print quality PICTURES. I think I’m going to opt for this JVC because the audio is NOT terrible, and it’s got a great zoom for the money. I’m NOT “stumped” by the colors/quality, because I can read a manual and make necessary white balance adjustments if I’m inside. You can pay HUNDREDS more and get a “smart cam” that does the guesswork for you, but at least this has a manual mode if you want to get past the “color-wash blues.” lol. Again, it is a $200 video recorder, people… I’d like to see some of these reviewers take their ten-thousand dollars and go buy a new Corvette. (rolling eyes). It’s the same concept. Again, I wish to stress - if you see enough people that say a product is GOOD, take the bad reviews with a grain of salt. If they are conclusive - pay more attention. But remember, there were always those who got an “F” on their report, and they usually complained about the class. wink I’m more concerned if people say “it’s not working,” or there is a consensus about poor quality. But people who don’t have a $5.00 firewire cable shouldn’t take their frustrations out on the actual product. If their computer doesn’t handle a piece of modern equipment - they need to upgrade and stop slamming what might be an excellent piece of video equipment for the dollars spent. (Gee, Consumer Reports magazine didn’t give this a single negative mark… so consider that along with the anonymous people who may just be angry that you might have to read the instructions to understand the product). Again, be careful with the lens cover - my last JVC had the “falling off” cap, but I think it was not handled carefully. Use the squeeze-tabs, and maybe this one will last!
and I stopped using my job as a way to pick-up/impress girls … it just gets annoying … people that love it dont wanna shut up about it … people that hate it always ■■■■■ to you about it …