Jvc Gr-d395us

ok, my budget on a video camera is $240. is this the best one for the price or is there a better one for this price? a review for this camcorder is much appreciated since this will be my first one.

I just got a JVC 395U for $229 (free shipping) this week. I haven't had a chance to try it outdoors but did try one out in a store a few weeks ago and liked the way it felt plus the bells/whistles compared to the other comparably priced cameras.

Positives are:

Long battery life, 3-hours. It has a 32x zoom which could come in handy, everything will look shakey, but it's an option. It has a light you can turn on which gives everything a blue-ish glow, but it illuminates your subject nevertheless. It comes with a remote control, which could be handy if you're just watching footage on TV. The menu is really easy to access and navigate around.

Negatives:

The video quality, it's 1 CCD, not so good. It has manual settings you can adjust in the menus, but they don't make a huge difference but then again I've only tried it out indoors in dim rooms so far.

I was also looking at the Canon ZR500 ($219 free shipping) because it came with a mic input but I ended up going with the 395 because I liked how the video looked compared to the other camcorders I tried out in the store, it seemed to fit my hand the best, and it has the 3-hour battery. It's very subjective when they're all about the same. Samsung might still have a 2006 budget model for somewhere around $180 but I tried one out and it seemed really bare bones compared to the JVC 395.

My original plan was to get a Panasonic GS-180, it's the cheapest 3CCD camera out there, has mic and headphone inputs, and runs for around $400. I never got a chance to try one out and went with the JVC 395 in the end because none of these budget camcorders really have a great picture and if I was going to spend $400 for a 3ccd camera, I'd probably have buyers remorse for not saving up a little more to get a better 3ccd camcorder. Hope that helps. I recommend going to a Best Buy, Fry's, etc and trying out all the budget models then ordering one online for a better price.

thanks so much! that did help a lot. i'll try going to best buy, etc. but now im pretty convinced that i'm getting this camera despite the negatives. again thanks for this review!