Canon ZR850

Pros: Price relative to high end models

Cons: Prive relative to entry line models. Poor image quality under normal and low light.

Summary: We were looking to replace a 3CCD Panasonic camcorder that my daughter dropped ($500 to repair - no thanks). I mainly was looking for a reasonably priced camcorder that would film "cleanly" - without a ton of features or advanced settings.

I decided to try this model after waiting some weeks for the Sony HC48 to become widely available. I was hoping that the 1MP lens would lend itself to higher quality video and that was enough incentive to choose this over the 830 and 800.

Video performance on this is mediocre to poor. I have a widescreen HD and the image looked pixelated with a lot of "noise" under low light and even normal conditions. I certainly wasn't looking for an HD like picture, but this left a LOT to be desired.

The LCD viewfinder has very few pixels and the screen images looks grainy and washed out.

Also the built in light is more of a gimmick than a functional feature (and casts a weird blue glow).

One other thing to note - the camera does not charge the battery when it is set to the "on" position and plugged in.

In all I am going to opt for a different (probably more expensive) camera.