JVC Everio GZ-X900

The simple truth is the Sanyo VPC-HD2000 offers a much better value than the JVC GZ-X900. While the X900 is a very divisive camcorder—it is excellent in bright light, but terrible in low light—the Sanyo VPC-HD2000 is a solid performer all around. Both camcorders record to SD/SDHC memory cards and contain no internal memory. They also have similar weight and dimensions, although the construction of the two camcorders is entirely different. The Sanyo has an upright, pistol-grip design, which is quite unusual for a camcorder of its class (this design is very popular with ultra-compact budget camcorders, however).

Like the GZ-X900, the VPC-HD2000 offers a few slow-motion options. The camcorder can record low-quality video at 240fps or 600fps, which both produce similar results to JVC’s high-speed shooting options. Something that may interest people who have concerns about video editing is the fact that the Sanyo HD2000 doesn’t record using AVCHD compression. Its MPEG-4 codec is similar to AVCHD, except files can be dragged and dropped from the camcorder and the clips aren’t as taxing for a computer to handle. The Sanyo VPC-HD2000 also records using a natively progressive 1080/60p frame rate, which offers smoother motion than the standard 60i.

The main weakness of the Sanyo HD2000 is its unfriendly user experience. The camcorder feels cheap, has poor button implementation, and its menu structure is unintuitive. If you’re used to a traditional camcorder, the VPC-HD2000 can be frustrating to use and difficult to learn. Its performance, however, is surprisingly good. The camcorder also takes decent still images, but it doesn’t have quite the pixel count of the JVC GZ-X900. Something else to think about when you consider the Sanyo HD2000 is the camcorder’s lack of an optical image stabilization system—it offers a weak digital stabilization feature instead.

The best thing about the VPC-HD2000 is its under $700 price tag (that’s $300 less than the X900). So, if you can deal with its handling issues and quirky design, the Sanyo HD2000 is a very good deal.

Update: The Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2000 was ultimately selected as our 2009 Best Value of the Year. To see why we selected it and read about our other awards, check out the 2009 CamcorderInfo.com Select Awards.