Canon ZR800

Pros: inexpensive, easy to use

Cons: audio is surprisingly poor for a canon product

Summary: We bought the ZR 800 for the birth of our son. After we downloaded the first 20 minutes of video, the white noise was unbelievably loud, matching the level of our voices. We returned the camera to Canon for repair. The repair sheet came back stating that:

"DV camcorder uses high speed rotating heads. Microphone picks up the drive sound of the head when the DV camcorder is used in very quite situation. We recommend you use an external microphone, to reduce drive sound that is recorded on the tape".

There is an external mic jack, but there is nowhere to attach the microphone, and Canon doesn't even sell a camcorder microphone online.

And as for the reference to very quiet situations, apparently that means anything indoors, because we got the white noise in every indoor situation we recorded (we never tried recording outdoors to see if it happened there, too).

We contacted Canon customer support requesting a refund or credit and they said they couldn't do anything for us since it "meets factory specifications". I will no longer trust the de facto quality of Canon products.