Samsung Slays the Sports Camcorder

October 10, 2007- It seems that the Sports Camcorder has met its demise. Recently, Samsung quietly shut down its Sports Camcorder forums, an online community that  catered to a broad audience of mountain bikers, skateboarders, and beyond who owned some version of the camcorder. Futhermore, the board's moderator stated that Samung will no longer manufacture Sports Camcorders for the US market.

“There [have] been several technical imperfections with the units - some fixed - some not… Samsung, at this point, will not be releasing new Sportscams; at least not in the U.S., however I have not found anything to indicate any future global releases,” stated sportcam_guru, Webmaster of Samsung Sports Camcorder Forums.

CamcorderInfo.com reviewed two units in the past, the SC-X105L (Review, Specs, $349) and the SC-X210L (Review, Specs, $449). The reviews found a severe underperformance in video quality when placed in the the greater context of camcorders in its price range, but concluded that the Sports Camcorders filled a niche that most camcorders could not. Samsung’s implementation of weather-resistant bodies and external lenses catered to rapids, mountain, and skatepark junkies across the globe. Most models feature an external lens that can be mounted to a helmet, attaching to an ultra-compact body for storage. The diminutive camcorder records MPEG-4 AVI video directly to internal flash memory or a removable flash memory card.

Freestyle motocrossers, skydivers, and snowboarders—to name a few—may want to take advantage of these Sports Camcorder’s fleeting availability online and in select stores.