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

I purchased Vado HD for my recent trip to Hawaii. The camcorder arrived just in time. Here is my hands-on experience.

Even though the trip was for 6 days, I think I have used it extensively to give some valuable feedback. BTW, i'm a Mac User

First of all, my other camcorders are Sony HDR-HC1, the HDV camcorder and Canon Powershot TX1. Compared to these two camcorders, the VadoHD holds its own in well lit situations. The RAW video quality of HC1 and TX1 are much better but, I never use the RAW video, because of the size. I compress the videos to equivalent bit rates to what VadoHD provides.

After the HC1 & TX1 videos are compressed, I see no visible difference in the quality of the video produced by VadoHD (again, in well-lit situations).

In low-light, the video from VadoHD is almost unusable but, these situations are rare (for me) and HC1 & TX1 are only slightly better.

Here are some of the draw backs that I see with VadoHD. I was aware of some of them before I purchased so, I did not consider them in the rating that I gave.

- No optical zoom. I wanted to see if I can live without an optical zoom but, after using it extensively, I think, its a Must have for me. I encountered atleast 30-40% of the situations where I wished VadoHD had optical zoom. IN this regard, I think TX1 is much better if you are willing to spend little bit more.

- No Stabilization. As with optical zoom, I wanted to see how much this will affect my video quality. I found out that, it affects a lot and IS for a HD video is a must. Hand holding (irrespective if how steady you are) will cause jerkiness in the video. Again, TX1 is a much better bargain.

- Once during the trip, the VadoHD did not power-on, the LCD screen went white and only way to recover is to remove the battery and reinsert it. It worked fine after that.

At this price point & the purpose of vadoHD, I would not consider the first two points (no IS and no Zoom) as negatives. Also, the competitor here is MinoHD. I have no experience with MinoHD but, i'm sure the video quality in well-lit and low-light situations will be no difference. MinoHD too doesn't have IS or zoom.

I'm a Mac user and I was aware of VadoHD's lack of support on Mac but, I did not care of the editing application on Mino (not MinoHD) as its too slow to startup and edit. Instead, I always used VisualHub (its no longer supported) and MPEG Streamclip. With perian plug-in, I had no problems playing the videos from VadoHD in Quicktime.

Some additional points I like to note:

- The silicon case that comes with VadoHD is a lifesaver. Irrespective of what people say, it an excellent addition to the package and came in very handy when using the camcorder on the beach.

- I kind of prefer the USB dongle in VadoHD rather than MinoHD. Since VadoHD's cable is flexible, it gives room to use the other USB port on my MacBook. With MinoHD, the USB dongle is stiff and can block other ports.

- The 2 hr (8GB) capacity is a Major plus as for the entire 6 day trip, I never used up the full 8GB but, I did use around 6GB of capacity - all in HD+ mode. This is excellent value for money.

As for me, I think i'm going to send back the VadoHD and keep my TX1 as it provides all the features and much more, if I can live with its compression (very high quality but, uses lots of storage).Get more detail about Creative Labs Vado HD 720p Pocket Video Camcorder with 8 GB Video Storage and 2x Digital Zoom (Black).