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

Creative Labs Vado HD720p Pocket Video Camcorder is one of a growing number of handy, fit-in-pocket camcorders that promise to enable you to easily capture life's moments for later viewing and sharing.

I've been capturing spontaneous video with my little Canon PowerShot Elph digital camera for years and have previously found no need for an additional video capture device that isn't really much smaller, or provides much greater video quality than what I've been using already.

If you want a small, easily pocketable camcorder and don't already have a relatively recent digital camera that enables the taking of video, this is a handy little device. It has a generous amount of built-in memory that lets you capture up to 2 hours of HD video. But the sound quality isn't that stellar (certainly not as good as what my Canon PowerShot SD600 Elph captures) and there is no macro function, nor does it take still photos (although it is possible to capture a single frame, or a series of frames from the video itself and the quality is not too bad). The proprietary battery is replaceable but pricey and there is no provision for expanding the memory by means of an additional memory card. So the camcorder does have some limitations. It's also disappointing that Creative did not include an A/V cable to let you hook this up to your television for direct viewing of the video you've captured. Nope, that's a $10 accessory! HDMI cable -is- included however.

The LCD display is difficult to see in brighter outdoors light conditions and therefore it can be difficult to frame your video under bright light conditions. The zoom is basically worthless as it is only a 2x digital zoom. Of even more concern is the fact that the lens has no cover and does not retract. In other words, if you have this camcorder in your bag, pack, purse, pocket... where it's supposed to be given the nature of this thing, then you're going to get dust, lint, gunk and whatever else on your lens. So when you grab your camera to capture that rare moment of cool video, it's probably going to have a dark splotch of gray fuzziness on the screen because of the gunk that had accumulated on the lens.

One huge problem I had with this camcorder is when the memory somehow became corrupted. I do not know why and it only happened once, but the end result was that I had to reformat the memory. Since the Software is pre-installed in memory it is lost if you reformat memory. Replacing the software is an exercise in futility. The customer service was terrible and their solution was to suggest that I send the camera to them for replacement. This of course would incur expense and lost time. Instead I found in their support forums, a ftp link to -their- website that had the software and it was easily downloaded and installed back onto the camcorder. The software should be accessible from the Creative support website, but it is not.

I've had several of these small camcorders... the Kodak Zi6, a Flip and now this Vado HD. I'm just not that impressed. As I've said, my Canon PowerShot takes really amazing quality digital photos and it also takes great video. Why do I need the Vado HD? I don't really. But you may so proceed cautiously and determine if what it does, is worth the cost. For me, it's frivolous. However, if easily uploading your spontaneous videos online is a priority, this does make things easier.

On the plus side, it is nice that a silicon sleeve is provided with the camcorder... it does protect the case nicely. The camera is easy to operate. It lacks image stabilization so you must move the camera very slowly and steadily or your resulting video will give everyone who views it headaches or nausea depending on how shaky your video is.

Pros:
-Very compact and easy to carry
-Great video quality for a camcorder of this size
-Able to record up to 2 hours of HD video
-Included HDMI cable and silicon sleeve

Cons:
-Lacks image stabilization
-LCD hard to see in daylight
-USB dongle on bottom prevents camera from "sitting" upright without tripod
-Lacks memory expansion capability
-Software is pre-installed in memory and is lost if you reformat memory.

I've rated this 3 stars. It is what it is and works pretty well. But it's just not a 5 star camcorder and the lack of an A/V cable to hook up to a TV is really inexcusable. Poor customer support is also a demerit.

UPDATE: Another Amazon user has made a comment that Creative has finally added the download links for the firmware and applications on their support site at http://support.creative.com/downloads/?h=7Get more detail about Creative Labs Vado HD 720p Pocket Video Camcorder with 8 GB Video Storage and 2x Digital Zoom (Black).


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