Cheap Camcorders Under $200
Two of the best camcorders on Amazon are like exact opposites in some respects. Number two is the Canon VIXIA at about $600 and number one is the Flip Mineo HD 120 min at $164 (actually spots 1 and 2 with the black model and white model). The VIXIA is a full featured HD camera with optical zoom and the Flip Mineo is basically a point and shoot with only digital zoom. What’s interesting though is that they’re both flash memory camcorders. That seems to be the way camcorders are going these days and it’s easy to see why. The flash memory camcorders have no moving parts which make them more rugged, and on the whole cheaper to manufacture. At this point the cost per gigabyte of memory is more expensive with flash camcorders than say, tape, DVD camcorders, or hard drive models. However they don’t have the moving parts to wear out, and you don’t have to manufacture a complicated drive system. I think that the Sony MiniDV will move out of its top spot before long.
If you’re looking at cheap digital camcorders then take a look at some of the Flip models and similar models from other makers. The HD Mineo is a cheap HD camcorder, barely over $150 yet still managing to take high definition video. If you want to play the video on an HD system you’ll get better quality than with standard definition. At this point all TV seems to be going that way anyway. If you’re looking for the best cheap HD camcorder, then take a look at the Mineo series, they’re filling up almost all the top models on Amazons best selling. If you wanted to make a list of best camcorders under $200 then they’d be almost all Flip models. In fact some of the cheapest camcorders are Flip models.
The cheap flash memory camcorders under $200 have some advantages and disadvantages compared to other types of camcorder. They’re relatively inexpensive, the recording media is small, they download video more quickly than other types except hard drive models, and because they don’t have moving parts they’re more rugged. The disadvantages are they don’t hold as much video, the video must be compressed, and they don’t have as a good a video quality in low light situations unless you get a pro model. Some TV news stations are using them because of the quick download times, but you’re not going to find cheap professional camcorders.
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