CHEAP, if you know what I mean.
Written: May 06 '01
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Pros: Great Price, Average Picture Quality, Relatively small, USB Connectivity, 4MB Memory
Cons: Extremely fragile. I had a DOA already. No Flash, sometimes blurry pictures.
The Bottom Line: If you get one that is NOT Dead on Arrival, great!. But you are likely to have mechanical problems with it. What else do you expect from UMAX?
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| badhmash's Full Review: Umax Astracam MTMD-84500 DV Camcorder |
UMAX has been around for a few years now, and are more well known for their scanners. If you own or have owned a UMAX product, you are one of two kinds of people; you like their products, or you hate them. There is no in between because of one simple fact: Some of their products work, and some are dead on arrival.
It is something that UMAX is going to have to correct if they want to be taken seriously in the computer market. I for one will never buy another UMAX product again if I can help it.
My problems started when I purchased a scanner about 3 years ago. It died within 4 hours of opening the box. Thinking that I would give UMAX one more chance, I decided to purchase the ASTRACAM 1000 digital camera. As with all UMAX products, the price is what attracts people because they are almost always lower than other companies' prices.
Three minutes after opening the box and packaging and placing the batteries in the unit, it died. In fact, it never started. I called the company, and asked for an RMA number which took 6 days to get. After that, I sent a new model which I am currently using.
The camera actually has not died even after a week's use. This is largely surprising as I would have expected it to crash already.
Although I have criticized the product thus far, let me say that if you do end up getting one that works, it performs very well. The camera is cheap in price (and construction), but offers great picture quality and resolution. There have been instances where the camera does create blurred images (in high speed or low light shots) but all in all I am satisfied with the good quality. There is no flash on the camera, however it does compensate for different light situations with the few features and settings it has.
I should point out that my camera did NOT come with the base shown in the picture. It does come with a USB cable and batteries as well as some great software.
One of the best features of the camera is the one touch uploading button. You can actually push a single button that uploads the pictures to a pre-defined folder on your hard drive for easy transfer. The fact that the camera has a 4MB memory capacity really allows you to hold a good deal of pictures, about 45 at one time. This number is almost twice the number of a standard film camera and you should never have a problem of running out of room because you can always find a computer to dump the pictures to in order to make more room.
The fact of the matter is this: IF you can get a good working version of this camera, its great for everyday use. If yours does not work, just return it and get a camera from a different company.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 80.00
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Epinions.com ID:
badhmash
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Reviews written: 30
Trusted by: 12 members
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