Customers Reviews
2009-11-09
easy to use and works great. pick up spare batteries on amazon for cheap!
easy to use and works great. pick up spare batteries on amazon for cheap!
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2009-11-07
Low expectations...still disappointed
I wasn't expecting much from a tiny little vidcam like this. But, I've had several problems that have made me wish I'd sprung for a better video cam. The biggest problem may be attributed in part to user error, but it's taken me a while to figure out when it is recording and when it is ready to record. In my mind, "Ready" and green lights mean, go ahead, record what you are seeing. It took three losses, and an overheated camera in my pocket that had been recording the darkness there, for me to finally test it sufficiently and realize that I had to press the record button TWICE to actually begin recording. The first time only puts it in green "Ready" mode. The second time puts it in RED (stop in my mind), "Record" mode. That's not very intuitive to me. So, I finally capture a video at my sister's anniversary party, and of course, there's the bad bit at the beginning when I turned on record mode at the table, and got up, swinging the little bugger around before I actually got to the picture I wanted to capture. Light in the restaurant wasn't bright, so I had a pretty fuzzy picture throughout. Didn't turn off the camera until I was sure I was done. Now I get to the most frustrating part.
I haven't learned much about video codecs and such yet, but one would hope with a simple device like this that shouldn't be necessary. All I wanted to do was to clip out the first few seconds and the last few seconds of the video. I had to try several video editing apps before finally finding one that actually imported both the audio AND the video so I could edit it. (VirtualDub) I figured out how to do the clipping through a little bit of trial and error and saved the video. Then, I tried uploading it to Facebook. The darn thing was taking forever, and I finally gave up. When I read the limits on the size of the video next day, discovered that my very short, and rather fuzzy video was about 4 times as big as they allowed. So, I went back to VirtualDub to try to compress it to a small enough size so I could post the video. I didn't find it. I hadn't bargained on having to learn a whole new application to post simple videos from this camera. I was under the impression that it was shoot and upload. (btw, I'm a tech savvy person, and have done much more extensive video editing in the past using Windows Movie Maker) So, I'm not thrilled. Maybe they've addressed this limitation in the newer versions of the camera, but I wouldn't recommend this purchase to anyone.
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2009-11-03
A Winner
I earned my living with 35mm motion picture cameras for 30 years and have owned several consumer camcorders.
The Creative Vado HD+ is an incredible bargain at the current price of $129.
Far and away the best attribute of this camcorder is the lens. It's wide. Really, really wide. This is extremely valuable for two reasons.
First, human beings see wide. That's why a wide angle lens is so valuable to photographers - this camera sees like you do. Your pictures look like the movies, even if the HD footage is a little contrasty.
Second, the camera is so small and light, hand-held images are gonna be shaky, no matter who's operating it. But, the wider the lens, the less a problem this is. Other cameras' lenses deliver a much smaller angle of view and a less natural and shakier picture. Kudos to Creative for giving this camera a truly wide angle lens. The only one that does.
All that said, an image stabilizing function would do wonders for this camera, even with such a wide view. Autofocus would be nice, too. The fixed-focus lens won't focus any closer than a foot or so. If you want to shoot bugs, this won't do.
Battery life is so-so. You can't fill an 8GB card (2 hours of HD+) on one charge.
This camera generates TONS of data. Be prepared to fill up your hard drive in no time. At top res, camera files occupy about one megabyte for every second the camera's recording.
Sound is also so-so. It's mono, not stereo. The mic does an adequate job of picking up sound, but is very susceptible to the slightest breath of wind.
All in all, a absolute winner. Convenient, easy to use, great pictures and very satisfying. The next generations of these cameras are going to be fantastic.
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2009-11-02
Thumbs Up
We have the Vado HD for recording sports with our kids and have liked the quality and portability. We recommend this product!
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2009-11-01
Great HD Video Camera for the Price
Bought this for my wife because it was less Bulky then our everyday video camera and could be easily carried in a purse or pocket. The Vado is simple to use and records in High Def for up to 2-hours, videos are easy to post on-line and the image in my opinion is the best in it's class. This was a great deal, I have no buyers remorse, and she loves it.
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