Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera (black)

Pros: picture, size, ease of use

Cons: sound is mediocre, but what do you expect from tiny built-in mic, at least it has jack for external mic

Summary: I am really very very happy with this product. I went from a bulky miniDV cassette camcorder and a bulky old digital still camera to the Nikon Zi8. It's lightweight, it takes brilliant movies in multiple resolutions, and it takes great still pictures, which is all I would ask of a point-n-shoot digital camera anyway. Buttons and screen icons are intuitive and easy to use, I haven't had to use the manual even once. Transfer to my computer is sooooooo easy with the built-in USB connection, no searching for where I left the cord like the old days. Battery could be better but that's what I'd expect for such a small battery in a device which drives a nice screen constantly, and battery is easy to replace with spare if no time to charge the one I have. Does pretty well in low lite. The sound isn't great, but it's good enough for simple shooting, and if I really want the sound better, I can attach an external mic which I own to the mic-in jack. I wanted a Flip, but when I saw this could take good still images and had better ease of use, I took a chance on this new product and I'm very glad I did. Because it's lightweight and small, I'll bring it to many more activities with my family and pull it out for use more frequently, and that's the whole point of having something to record special moments -- ease of actually doing so. I'm very pleased.