Buying Creative Labs Vado HD 720p Pocket Video Camcorder with 8 GB Video Storage and 2x Digital Zoom (Black)

I bought this camera to make it easy to replace those shaky low-quality videos that my family was capturing through cell phones and pocket digital cameras. I realize that it is not a substitute for a full HD camcorder.

However, after using this device now for a few months, I have noticed some distinct pros and cons. The cons outweigh the pros, and I'd recommend against purchasing a Vado HD until the flaws are addressed.

Pros:
- Excellent battery life - I've never run out of battery, even after all-day use
- Plenty of internal storage
- Very easy to use for anyone - including recharging and downloading
- No charger needed - plus right into USB, easy to charge in car. Battery is replaceable and not sealed in.
- Decent outdoor color in good light
- Very sturdy
- Small and very convenient
- Good for closer-up full-face video, but HD is of less value here.
- Relatively cheap - got mine through Amazon Warehouse Deals. Unit came like new (resealed, but everything intact)
- Easy to post to YouTube or capture stills

Cons:
- Poor video quality in indoor settings. Why bother with HD when colors are too dark or washed out?
- Audio is horrible. Recording acoustic music with vocals in an otherwise silent setting produces very disappointing results. Good HD video with poor audio is a waste of all that disk space.
- Very limited zoom capability.
- Shaky, but nonetheless extremely difficult to mount to tripod. The rubber pull-out USB tab is on the bottom of the unit, right next to the mounting screw hole. Whe mounted to a tripod, can not sit level due to the rubber tab. Very poor design consideration - should have been on the side like the Flip.
- Very Windows-centric. I have both Win and Mac, and have found video editing difficult on Mac given the use particular codecs required.
- No mechanism to protect lens. I hate this on any device. A manual rubber cap I pop off would do the trick.


The massive amount of drive storage for HD video captured with this device is not worth the low-quality shaky hard-to-hear HD video. I plan to turn off HD on this device. For real video worth the amount of drive space required, I'm willing to pay several times the price for video and audio quality and easier image stability.Get more detail about Creative Labs Vado HD 720p Pocket Video Camcorder with 8 GB Video Storage and 2x Digital Zoom (Black).