Best Camcorders Under $200 3
What it is: Cell-phone slim (about half an inch) with an attractive brushed metal body, the Creative Vado will fit discreetly in any pocket, and yet its 2-gigabyte (2GB) memory can hold up to two hours of video.
What we like: Besides being slimmer and smaller than its rivals from Flip, the Creative Vado is, at $99, at least $50 less expensive than the Flip Ultra (and about $80 less than the Flip Mino). Operation is simple -- with dedicated buttons for power, shooting video, playing video, and deleting video, as well as a 4-way D-pad for volume and rewinding/fast-forwarding. Used for transferring videos, loading up the included Vado Central movie management software, and charging the battery with your PC's power, the retractable USB cord is just that -- a cord -- which means it doesn't put strain your PC's USB input with the weight of the camera (as on other models). Best of all, the Vado boasts a 2-inch screen that makes shooting a cinch -- even in bright daylight.
What we don't like: Video quality -- with some washed out colors and graininess -- was the least attractive of the bunch, especially on a TV (though it looks okay on the built-in LCD screen). Since it lacks any video editing capabilities, the included Vado Central software only lets you copy and view your videos, so you'll have to get your own program to edit the MPEG-4 videos (which, thankfully, are editable by most third-party programs). Charging via your PC is fine and saves you money on batteries, but it's best done while your working at the computer -- if your laptop is set to go to sleep after a few minutes, you'll find yourself with a dead battery a few hours later (that said, you can buy an AC adapter separately for $40). The somewhat hard-to-find A/V cable to plug the camera a TV is not included, which means you'll have to search for one yourself.
Final verdict: If either discretion or portability is of the utmost importance, then this is the only camera that'll come in handy, since you'll barely notice it in your pocket. And that big screen is really nice for anyone who has to strain their eyes to see small stuff. Plus, you can't beat the sub-$100 price tag. But if video quality is the most important thing to you, you might want to shell out the extra $50 for the Flip (or a few Benjamins extra for a high-quality camcorder cell-phone like the Nokia N95).
Price: $99
