Was OK, but the infamous DEW problem makes it useless
Written: Jun 04 '04 (Updated Jun 07 '05)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
| Battery Life: |
 |
|
| Movie Quality: |
|
|
|
Pros: Very small.
Cons: Utterly unreliable because of the dew problem. Zoom button quite hard to use (too sensitive)
The Bottom Line: Avoid, in my experience.
|
|
|
| jeanlaroche's Full Review: Sharp Viewcam VL-Z5U Mini DV Camcorder |
I had had this camera for about 6 months when it became harder and harder to use because the dew indicator would come on all the time (and prevent me from using it). After putting up with this for a while, I contacted Sharp, got them to pay for the repair and sent it to be fixed. It worked fine when it came back, but now, 1 year after the initial purchase, the dew problem is back again, and the camcorder is barely usable. I'm having to send it back another time, not a happy camper, even though Sharp's paying the bill a second time (I guess they know of the problem).
I'm not the only one with this problem, as confirmed by a quick google search on it. When you pick up the camcorder to start filming and you find that it simply won't, that's really frustrating. I've lost quite a few shots on account of that.
I would definitely NOT recommend this camcorder. I would return it in an instant if I could.
Other than that, the video quality is OK, but definitely not great. The low-light performance is not good. But you get what you pay for. The zoom button is hard to use because it's very sensitive. It takes a while to get used to.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 320
Recommended for: Budget Buyers - Best Values to Fit the Budget
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
jeanlaroche
|
|
Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.