JVC Everio GZ-MG30

I was sceptical - read lots of reviews that were non commital about the quality of the camera.

Never having had a digital camcorder before, I did a huge amount of background research and that just left me not wanting anything with tapes or DVDs that need changing, editing or run out at the innoportune moments!

So, I got onto ebay and got myself (for 250 GBP!!!!) from the US, a brand new Everio. After paying import duty (caveat emptor) I got it and most impressive it is too

Small is the first thing that you notice - small, but it fits my hand perfectly, and my wife's hand too (and she has little hands). It feels like a good extension of your arm and is not at all heavy, even after some extensive use.

Ease of USE - without reading a manual at all (what a man!) I managed to figure out the way to record and then to review what I had recorded - its pretty easy and intuitive although the controls for some of the functions are pretty tiny and you need to press lightly and not be too quick and heavy handed.

One thing to note, there is no view finder, everything is via the LCD screen, which is pretty good quality and you can preview really easily through it.

The QUALITY - I would (as a complete amateur) say that the quality is really good - both inside and outside the quality was acceptable, colours look good and clear and crisp. The zoom is remarkably easy to use and gives non-pixellated zoom on playback, up to about the 25X (in my experience) any more than that and you are starting to get major shakes on the picture!!! - Tripod a necessity if you are going to be using the zoom at any distance further than this

Stills - disappointingly only 640X480 stills - but the clarity and coulour definition is still very good and I have to say, if you want professional quality stills - buy a standalone camera.

Battery Life - Pretty appalling in this day and age - I would estimate an hour to hour and a half. Having said that - I travelled with it extensively and never found myself using more than 80% of the battery life in one day, so long as you remember to use it then shut it down I didn't find it too difficult to conserve battery life - If you envisage a long time of use, buy a second battery.

I didn't test the recharge time -but I found that an hour charge in a morning lasted me each day, so I was pretty happy with that

It has a light function on the front and that works pretty well, although its low light capability has been criticised (don't use it for dusk shots, because you start to lose definition/clarity)

On the whole this is a great camera for size, cost and most of all the ease of use and not having to edit dozens of tapes and DVDs.

The editing program that comes with it seems to be a little clumsy, but I am sure that you can find other programs which are a little more point and click!

For downloading to your PC - easy as pie -plug it in and transfer the files, what more can I say. One tip - if you can't play back the *.MOD files, just change them to *.mpg files -then they play back in WMP easy!!! and the quality really is great.

Apparently you get over 7 hours of DVD quality out of the 30GB HDD - If you get though that in more than one sitting, you are boring the family with your camera antics! one thing to be aware of - if you recored over 1 hour in one go, the file splits into 1 hour segments - worrying at first, but then once you realise thats whats happening - its fine.

Great camera - don't pay full whack for it, - I got mine for under 300 including P+P!

PS - the sound is good too - even has a wind reduction feature)