Panasonic HM-TA1 Camcorder Review
- Sections:
- COMP 3
COMP 3
Flip camcorders have been the dominating force in the ultracompact market since their launch a few years ago. The Flip UltraHD is one of the better offerings from the company, although it is also one of the largest of the Flip models. It has 8GB of internal memory, a built-in USB arm, and it can run on regular AA batteries (the camcorder comes with two rechrageable AA batteries as well).
Compared to the Panasonic HM-TA1, the Flip UltraHD is very limited in terms of features. It has only one record mode (720p) and it has no still features to speak of. Despite the fact that the Flip UltraHD tops out with 1280 x 720 recording, the camcorder still did fairly well on our tests. The Panasonic HM-TA1 may have done stronger overall, but the two were very close.
It may not look like it, but the Flip UltraHD actually has a more rugged design than the Panasonic HM-TA1. While the Flip's built-in USB arm may look gimmicky and breakable, we had no problems with it during our time with the camcorder (except for the fact that it can be a pain to connect to a computer). The sliding USB connector on the HM-TA1, however, stopped functioning properly after just a few uses.
The Flip UltraHD is the perfect camcorder for anyone who doesn't want to get bogged down with settings or options. You won't have much individual control over your videos, but you'll be able to record them with ease and upload them to YouTube with no problem. Heck, you don't even have to worry about memory cards with the Flip UltraHD. Even though it costs a bit more than the HM-TA1, we think the Flip UltraHD is the better choice for beginners and technophobes alike.
