Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 29
 Can't go wrong with this! May 3, 2010
Sankwon Lew (Arlington, VA United States)
22 out of 23 found this review helpful
Everytime I purchase any electronic product, I do a decent amount of research before choosing it, as I did before buying this camcorder. Some of the important features for me were:
- External drives to store videos
- Video quality
- Photo quality
- Video/photo quality in low light settings
- Flash for Photo
- Camera Lens size
- Cosmetic design
- Batter life
- Ability to shoot yourself, while seeing how it shows on the video
- Price
The contenders were:
- Flip line (UltraHD, MinoHD)
- Sanyo Xacti line (CG-102, CG-20, etc.)
- Kodak line (Zi8, PlaySport)
All of the above had pros and cons.
Flip: I didn't choose Flip because it didn't have ability to have external storage, limiting # of hours I can shoot, and I also read their camera feature sucked.
Kodak: Kodak Playsport was the cheapest with $130, and it was really durable. But it was ugly. It also lacked stereo audio, and bad Camera feature. Zi8 looked much nicer, but it lacked good Camera feature. Both were bad in low lighting.
Sanyo: CG102 was the best. It had the biggest lens of all of the choices, zoom levels were not even comparable as it was so good compared to other choices, you stored everything on the SDHC card, and it had full Camera feature, such as abilty to control ISO, and shuter speed. Some had complained about it not begin good at low lighting, but this one being the only camera with ability to control ISO, I don't know how other camcorders can be any better. Also, you can flip the LCDs back and forth, so you can watch yourself while filming yourself, which is great. It also has "real" flash, not the stupid LED ones, for the Camera. Neither Flip nor Kodak has "real" Flash. CG102 also has stereo mic. One of the major downside, however, is that CG102 was the most expensive of the bunch with $230, which was almost twice the cost of Kodak Playsport.
At any event, CG102, blew the ballpark out when compared against any of its competitors. I have been using it for past few days, and I love it, and it's everything I needed in a camcorder/camera combo.
The value is in having it handy on your belt all the time May 28, 2010
C Buddy (NYC area, USA)
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
This is my first camcorder. I bought it to film HD vids for the grandparents of my newborn first son. For the reviews that say the color or brightness or white balance is off, those users need to visit the Sanyo site and click on the "Let's Shoot More Movies" tab/picture. There are dozens of tips, hints and video examples.
This little cam is fantastic. I've been using it non stop for the past 4 weeks. I've captured about 5 total hours. It's very comfortable on the wrist and convenient on the hip. I keep it on my belt in an old pouch I had. I had bought the Targus small expedition and the Swiss Gear Sherpa medium, but neither of them fit. I ended up buying a Lowepro Ridge 30 from Amazon and it fits great (plus cheaper than anything at Target or Walmart). Returned the other 2 bags.
Size was a big factor for me. I just know that if it's not unobtrusive, I won't carry it, and thus won't be able to use it, and the camera would just be a waste of money. This thing is the smallest. I went to see a similar model at Radio Shack before I bought it. I decided on the vpc-cg102 because it had the higher optical zoom for only about 15% more.
I considered the Samsung with the ergo angle, but it's a little bigger and the HD model is $400+. This little Xacti wins against Sony and Panasonic which only do proprietary AVCHD. I'm no camcorder expert, but it seems like not many editing suites can do AVCHD natively (requiring more horsepower and time on your PC to convert and then edit) and since every DVD and Media player box out there is MPEG4, why would I make life difficult for myself? And if it's not easy to edit, I'm not going to sit for hours at my PC in frustration. IMHO the Sonys at BestBuy are outpriced with the lowest HD capable model around $450. The JVCs they had a BBuy were on the clunky side. Samsung was the only real size competitor to the Xacti.
I bought the Patriot Class 4 SDHC 32GB card (low cost with $10 rebate and a review said it writes at 17+Mbs (which I have not verified). But I can say empirically, it does keep up with this Xacti's 16Mbs highest rate for full 60fps HD when in the camera recording. It records 5+ hours at 1080p/30fps (a lot). And this cam also accepts SDXC cards for future flash upgrade.
I also bought 2 batteries and a travel charger shipped from Hong Kong on eBay for less than $20. And I can report they work perfectly. So the complaints about battery life are inconsequential if you know how to shop. The batteries are ultra thin and tiny (smaller than a book of matches) so carrying 2 spare all charged up is not an issue.
Cons: Tough to find a case that fits the non standard dimensions. Battery life is about 60+ mins, but who cares if you've got 3 batteries? Picture focus lock takes about 1 min of practice to master. Auto focus is a little slow and can be fickle until you master it. Definitely not was fast as even an old Canon S41 (from 2004) sensor. But once u have the touch of the half-press then full press of the picture button it's 100% predictable. Just be prepared if you give the camera to a stranger who hasn't practiced for a quick shot. They will mess up and the picture will end up blurry. Also, the gun design absolutely requires a tripod for handless shooting. The camera will not stand up without it. I bought one of the cheapie $2 mini tripods with bendable legs off Amazon, but it's not nearly as good as the Joby gorillapod style. The metal covered legs have a springy memory property to them that makes it a pain to level the camera perfectly and have it stay. I got a "gorillapod" look-alike off eBay shipped from Hong Kong. It is 99% identical to the real Joby and it was under $4 (and yes, I have a real Joby to compare it to).
Pros: Pictures can be shot at 12M widescreen 16:9 or 14M 4:3. I prefer to leave it in 12 widescreen. The auto flash has a red-eye feature that only flashes once extra, so it doesn't totally blind the subjects. And it seems to be intelligent in sensing faces so it can save battery power and not flash when it doesn't sense a face. Love the timed picture delay feature countdown of big red circles. You flip the screen around to face the subjects and can see yourself when you jump into the picture. It has 4 red circles that count down and tell everyone when it's going off.
If you want a camera you can actually use and take with you to capture impromptu moments of life, this is Xacti is the One to get. If you're looking to do more setup (tripod, etc) and get better stability, microphone hookup, 80x+ zoom, 5 hour battery, etc, then look for a bigger, higher priced barrel type unit with more features.
Sanyo also makes this same camera in a flatter non-gun type body. It's called the vpc-gh1 and vpc-gh2. But the gun handle body is one of the best features.
Cons: It's not as high quality as other cameras in the $400+ range. The plastic is thin, especially the battery door, but it's not an issue. And the controls are not as tactile as a $1500 Sony. Photo pictures aren't as sharp as with a Canon elph, but the convenience of just having a camera and camcorder in one makes up for it. Auto focus is comparatively slow to the best compact quickshot cameras (about 1.5 secs).
For The Money... It's a Bargain! April 5, 2010
CamMan (NY,)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
[[ASIN:B0036TH6XG Sanyo VPC-CG102 High Definition Camcorder and 14 MP Camera w/12x Optical
This is about my 5th Camcorder bought over the past 15 years. I am not a pro, but an amatuer enthusiast.
I wanted an inexpensive camcorder, with a decent optical zoom (at least 10x) that would be easy to use, easy to travel with, have good image quality, rechargeable battery that could be removed from the unit.. so I would have minimal downtime. I also wanted the Camcorder to havea camera, and use SD memory cards. This camcorder fit the bill perfectly in all respects~! I had tried the VPC-CS1 but it was just too small and difficult for my fingers to manipulate.
As a camcorder ...in this price range..it excels. Zoom is smooth, focus reasonably fast and well. Excellent color rendition.Very intuiitive and easy to use controls and menus. I used the enclosed AVI cables and the Video clips looked quite good on a 19inch HD TV. I have not yet tried it on HDMI.No tranfer problems of files to my computer or edit problems as a friend of mine advised me he had with an Optimum unit he had purchased last summer. The camera function, however,is slow to focus and has shutter lag... but images are satisfactory. Sanyo should have included a handstrap, but I had one around that I am using.
This review and rating is not meant to compare the camcorder to much more expensive units... that may have built in lights,etc. high end software (none is included), but to let you know that for the money (under $250) your getting an excellent little unit with many features that make it an excellent value.
First Impression April 3, 2010
SG (CA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I agree with the first reviewer. Very nice camera, nice zoom. The first reviewer said the LCD screen doesn't flip backward to video yourself, but it does. Just turn it downward and around instead of up, works great!
Outstanding video quality, with a learning curve. June 5, 2010
JB (Ellenwood, GA United States)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I was looking for an HD camcorder that would shoot good video in both 1080/60i and 720/60p, but that was small enough for me to carry around in my cargo pants pocket. I've had this for about two months now. This camcorder certainly fit the bill, and more. One outstanding feature is the dual zoom. When engaged, it basically puts a 2x telephoto lens into play, allowing everything from wide angle to 12x zooming without going into digital zoom, and without making the lens look like a gun barrel. There are also controls for ISO, white balance, exposure, and manual focus, among others. The learning curve is a little long, but if you take the time to learn about them and experiment with the different settings in different conditions, you can take outstanding video. I recorded my son's soccer game in 720/60P. Admittedly it was outdoors in bright sunlight - ideal conditions - but the video quality was jaw dropping. It even impressed my videographer friend. The stills are very good as well, but I haven't been able to get them to come out as nicely as my 8 MP Canon Digital Elph.
To keep the camcorder at this price point, Sanyo left out some essentials, like a mini hdmi cable, software, and a user's guide. You have to go online to the Sanyo website to get the user's guide in pdf format. The usb port is proprietary, and the included cable is literally 23 inches long, so you'll need a usb extender cable in addition to the mini hdmi. You can get both online for a few bucks plus shipping. It also does not include an AC power cord. The included battery charger does not connect to the camcorder. It charges the battery outside of the camcorder. I picked up an extra battery, as the battery lasted less than an hour on a full charge. You'll also need an sd card class 6 or better. For software, if you have Windows 7, the latest version of Windows Live Movie Maker can edit the video and burn it to DVD. I use multiAVCHD and ImgBurn (both are free) to burn AVCHD video to a regular DVD and watch it in full HD on my PS3 and Samsung blu-ray players. Consider a tripod as well. I have a tough time holding it steady. I picked up a monopod for $20 at wally world.
Bottom line, if you're looking for an easy to use camcorder, there are better options. If you're looking for a reasonably priced HD camcorder that shoots outstanding video and will fit in your pocket so you can actually take it somewhere, look no further.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 29
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