HF10 or HF100 mic noise?

I was really interested in the HV30 until I read about all the issues with motor noise on the top mounted internal mic. I see that the HF is front mounted -- MUCH better location. Any issues of motor noise when zooming, etc?

Is the only difference between the 2 the 16 gigs?

I have an HF10. I haven't noticed any unwanted noise from zooming or anything else. In fact, I haven't even heard much of the "behind the camera" noise I expected to hear, such as my footsteps outside and what not.

The mic installed on the camera seems to do pretty well at picking up what's going on within a reasonable distance in front of the camera. If you get good at setting the mic sensitivity, you can capture sound pretty effectively.

As far as I know, the only difference between the HF10 and the HF100 is the HF10's built in memory (so yes to your question). I may be wrong, however.

The HF10/100 have no mic noise that anyone could detect during normal usage. However, the mic quality is pretty lame. It's quite sensitive to wind and the stereo separation is poor. But I don't know how it compares to the HV30, maybe that one is just as lame as the HF.

Keep in mind that I am very picky. Most amateurs will be 100% fine with this camera. I am probably comparing it with "prosumer" (semi-pro) cameras.