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Product: Garmin Nuvi 650 List Price: $749.99 Average customer review: Amazon Price: Too low to display Click Here To See Amazon Sale Price Add to cart to see low price@ Availability: In Stock Usually ships in 24 Hours Free Shipping Available

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I have have a been a long time Garmin GPS customer including three generations of the Streetpilot. I am very pleased with the Nuvi 650 echoing some of the praises you’ve read here in the reviews.

However for those of who are on the fence about getting the 650 versus the 660 for the extra Bluetooth, FM transmitter and traffic receiver, I want to offer you some more reasons to consider the 660. The Nuvi 650 does not include the leather carrying case, AC adapter and printed manual which comes standard with the 660 packaging ($50 value).

As a an old time Garmin user, I am used to having these items come with my GPS. In addition, the Nuvis do not include CD/DVD map software nor the friction mount (must buy separately esp. for California and Minnesota). Considering how easy it is now for users to access the memory space of the Nuvi from their computers, it’s much easier to corrupt the system unintentially. Thats when you’ll need the original map software to recover.

Don’t get me wrong, I do like the Nuvi 650 over my Streetpilot 2720 for it’s size, improve user interface and the SirF Star III receiver for much more reliable GPS reception. But I can only give this product 4 stars because of the lack of accessories that I find essential for my usage and yet comes standard for the Nuvi 660, 670 and 680.

Before the Nuvi, the only GPS I’d ever used was a Garmin hiking GPS, which I purchased in 2004. It wasn’t extremely easy to use, and installing maps on it was awkward. So for the longest time, I didn’t bother looking at automotive GPS units, especially Garmins.

My parents recently got a Nuvi 650. They’re in their 60s and not extremely technologically savvy. Yet they were able to use it right out of the box, spending minimal time reading the (very short, well-written) “getting started” guide that comes in the package. They are retired and spend every winter RVing around the country, so the Nuvi is an extremely useful device for them.

My wife and I got to see their Nuvi 650. We were impressed with how well designed the interface is. It’s very intuitive. The screen is big and bright and easy to read in any light. We and my parents experimented with the auto-nav features and found it did a great job navigating us through complicated routes.

I got the bug to buy an automotive GPS and did my research. A recent Consumer Reports issue (Dec 2007, I think, also available online) has a great review of automotive GPS units. Four of their top 5 are Nuvis (the other is a TomTom).

I ruled out the TomTom because the suction mount it comes with isn’t as good as the Nuvi’s mount.

I considered the Nuvi 660 (which adds bluetooth and a traffic receiver, but is a lot more expensive). The traffic info requires an extra cost subscription (after a free trial period). The bluetooth wasn’t attractive to me for these reasons: 1) I will only use my GPS for road trips and occasional visits to an unfamiliar part of the city I live in, yet I use my cell phone all the time. 2) My car stereo already has built-in bluetooth features and, after trying them out, I ended up not using them.

I ruled out the cheaper Nuvis for two reasons. Some of them have smaller screens: 3.5″, whereas the 6xx series has a 4.3″ screen. Second, on some cheaper units, the voice directions do not include street names (”turn left in 500 feet”), whereas on the Nuvi 6xx series, the voice directions tell you what street to turn on, as well as how many feet or miles or whatever.

So I settled on the Nuvi 650.

Before making the purchase, though, I was concerned that this particular model was introduced 3 years ago - a long time for a technological gadget. More importantly, I worried that the maps on it would be from 2004. I emailed Garmin customer support, they replied in 24 hours and said that Nuvi 650s are now shipping with the latest maps - the 2008 City Navigator North America NT mappping software. If, by chance, I happen to get a unit that doesn’t have the latest maps, when I register my unit online I will be able to order a free update to the latest maps.

Based on this, I ordered a Nuvi 650. Sure enough, it came with the 2008 maps.

Despite that this model was introduced 3 years ago, my wife and I find it very well-designed and it meets our needs very well. As others here have noted, the auto nav is not always 100% accurate - but that’s true with any automotive GPS. You always must travel with a good atlas, and of course, your cell phone.

The Nuvi series is great: there are lots of different ones with different features, something for just about everybody. Some reviews of the 650 complain about this or that feature missing — fine, then look at the Nuvi line — there’s probably a Nuvi with the feature you want.

Nuvis are easy enough to use right out of the box, for people who don’t like reading manuals. But for those that do, it’s worthwhile to spend 20-30 minutes reading the manual and tinkering with it.

If you plug it into your computer using the included USB cable, it shows up as a drive in Windows explorer. You can drag and drop your favorite photos onto the photo folder of this “drive”, and then view them on the Nuvi as a slide show. You can pick one of them to be your splash screen, which you see when you first power up the unit or plug it into your computer. You can drag and drop your favorite MP3 files to the Nuvi, and play them on the Nuvi’s internal MP3 player. The Nuvi has an audio output jack (which takes a standard earphone sized plug), so you can play the Nuvi’s sound through your car stereo if it has an auxiliary input jack.

You can change the auto icon that represents your vehicle on the map; there are quite a few to choose from on the garmin website. You can change the voice that gives you directions; the English speaking voices include an American female (the default) or male, a British female or male, and an Australian female or male. My wife likes the British male voice the best. If you’re multilingual or traveling abroad, you can switch to one of many foreign language voices.

Since the Nuvi 650 is not the latest and greatest, shop around and you should be able to get a great deal. We got a fantastic deal from c o s t c o d o t c o m. (Trying to avoid the censor.)

One last tip: The Consumer Reports article I mentioned said that thieves love to break windows and grab GPS units (and iPods, etc). The article said that you should not only take the unit with you when you park somewhere, but also remove the windshield mount - some thieves will see it and assume you left your GPS in the glove compartment, and break your window to find out.

Had this GPS exactly one month, so I’m still learning about it. However, it’s an extremely convenient, easy-to-see, great sized navigation tool. Can easily fit in a jacket pocket to take with me anywhere. I find it helpful just about every time I use it, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.

But it’s not the perfect answer, just a tool. You have to be aware of what it’s telling you, and make decisions based on your knowledge and common sense.

Pros:

–Large, bright screen (which can switch to a dark backlight when it gets dark out).

–Text-to-speech directions pretty clear (occasional weird pronunciation.)

–Remembers lots of places you’ve been, easy to save places as favorites.

Cons:

–Need to understand what the Nuvi believes is fastest versus shortest, and when you may want to turn off highways as part of the navigation.

–Sometimes the nuvi does NOT tell you to bear right or left as a road forks, and if you’re not looking at the screen, you won’t realize it (until the GPS-voice-with-an-attitude tells you that it’s recalculating).

–The precise locations of things is more of a rarity than you may think. As an example, the nuvi is locating my “home” on the street that runs 150 feet behind my house. If it’s accurate to within 200 or 300 feet, that’s a football field away from where you actually are.

–It sometimes doesn’t announce turns in advance (doesn’t happen often, but does happen).

–Do yourself a favor and buy (separately) the friction mount (sandbag-style) rather than bothering with the suction cup mount that’s included. You’ll love it, it’s easy to move (either from car to car, or to put under you seat so that thieves don’t see it and break in). Absolutely should be the standard mount.

Additional comments:

The 650 doesn’t include a few features, such as bluetooth, that are standard in the 660 and above. If you use audio books or play music through the MP3 player, bluetooth would enable you to play through your car stereo. If you don’t care about that, the 650 is a better deal.

No printed manual is included — just a Quick Start pamphlet. Do yourself a favor and go to the garmin site and download the manual right away. It’ll answer a ton of questions for you and clear up things that are not obvious.

Product: Sony HDR-TG5 List Price: $999.99 Average customer review: Amazon Price: Too low to display Click Here To See Amazon Sale Price Add to cart to see low price@ Availability: In Stock Usually ships in 24 Hours Free Shipping Available

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This is a fantastic camera. The video and camera controls are easy to use and the zoom is easy to control. It fits very nicely in my pants pocket. The only deficiency is that the documentation for Macintosh OS use is very poor, and actually misleads you to think that the camera is not Macintosh compatible (I was angry when I read the single page on the Sony website, which implied that only photos taken on the memory stick could be used on a Macintosh). Fortunately, I thought I would try to hook it up via the USB to my MacBook Pro anyways. iPhoto automatically launches when the HDR-TG5V is USB connected, and I was able to download the photos the same as with any other camera. The GPS tags worked perfectly. After quitting iPhoto, I ran iMovie 09 and to my delight, it automatically recognized the movies for download. For GPS users, make sure to turn on the camera when you reach a new location and make sure it has had time to triangulate a location (when the three dots becomes a set of bars). If you don’t wait for this, the photos are not linked to that location. The other downside is that it lacks night vision, but it does allow for manual focusing and even automatic optimization of focus on faces. Overall, a very handy and convenient camera with excellent movie resolution and good photo resolution.

Are you looking for the absolute best quality video & sound available including astonishing low light performance? Then look elsewhere. Are you looking for a camera that you’ll actually carry which is also fast & simple to use while capturing very good HD video and acceptable stills? Then stop looking, you’ve found it. For my money, a camera that gets used is way better than a studio quality hulk that sits in the closet. This thing will fit in pants or jacket pockets. It’s a camera my wife will use!

Talk about simplicity, the TG5V has exactly 4 mechanical controls if you include the switch that turns the camera on when you open the LCD. The other three are all located on the back and controlled by your thumb. Zoom ring, video start stop button, still photo button. That’s it! Almost all funtions can be set once on the touchscreen menu and then forgotten. But, you can set up a custom menu with your six favorites on a menu that is accessible with one touch of the screen. Very slick and a good thing because the menu is extensive with 14 sub-sections. I set the whole thing up and configured the custom menu without ever opening the manual so I’d rate the new Sony menu design a success.

Video is excellent in HD and still OK in SD. Low light is not the camera’s forte but a well lit room is no problem. Batteries last only about 90 min so you’ll want a spare. I also bought the wide angle lens and I think most people are going to want that for indoor shots. This camera has a narrower than usual field of vision.

I bought the spare battery & charger kit to free me from carrying the stand and ac/dc converter block. Lastly, I bought the Sony brown leather case with magnetic closure. It’s very nice and protects the camera well but I think most of the time I’ll carry the TG5V in my pocket in the drawstring bag that came with my Nikon flash. It’s perfectly sized and adds almost zero bulk. The wide angle lens has it’s own zip leather case. The case velcros onto the camera handstrap and the lens has a separate leash that also clips onto the camera strap. Excellent overall system design.

Edit: Forgot to mention the GPS function. It seems sort of goofy to me but it lets you search for files by location by pointing at the touchscreen. I may grow to like it but for me anyway, it is far from the main reason I wanted this video camera. And it just occurred to me that you may be able to extend battery life by shutting off the GPS reciever.

So why didn’t I save $350 bucks and buy the older TG1? The TG5V is about 7% lighter and 10% smaller in volume, has 16GB memory built in, Sony made the touch screen menu system much more usable, and they improved the looks. And then of course there’s the GPS thingy?????

Edit 11/07/2009 : Someone left a comment pointing out that when Sony added a bunch of improvements to the TG5V they also took something away. True and a bit strange for a consumer electronics company to remove features. Sony offered 5.1 audio recording on the original TG1V. The new TG5V on the other hand makes do with 2 channel stereo recording. I can think of several reasons why it should have been stereo to begin with but I can’t figure out why, once they had 5.1 audio implemented they’d remove it.

So why go with stereo? A lot of customers don’t own home theaters with 5.1 surround sound systems. Those who do will likely play back their video on a computer where multi-channel audio doesn’t add much “wow”. Or they’ll burn their memories to a DVD and send it to grandma and aunt Susie who again, don’t have a home theater. Or they’ll post it on YouTube for others to watch …..you guessed it, on a computer. Also let’s face it, this camera is tiny without an input for an external microphone. How good can a tiny 1/8th inch built in mike do separating 5 channels of audio with directional cues?

Do I miss the 5.1 channel audio? Not at all. I view it as an acceptable tradeoff for the worlds smallest high quality video camera that is actually going to get used because of its portability.

Why did Sony jettison a feature they had already designed into the product? No idea. Cost? I doubt it, this camera is marketed to well heeled consumers and the cost difference was probably a few bucks. Maybe they also decided it was a useless feature for the target buyer. Or, maybe their AVCHD codec was having problems with 5.1 audio. It remains a mystery.

I have an older hdr-fx1, but wanted a small pocket video camera.

This camera video is not as good as the full size, but is very nice in 1080i. It is not a 1080p camera, so saying it is “full HD” to me is really not true. The GPS tagging works, as well as using a standard DVD burner to make disks that have to be read on a BD reader. Curiously, if you use a Sony BD burner, which I also have, the video is fine, but none of the menus are burned into the standard DVD disk. I have a fast XP computer, and you will need that to burn the AVCHD disks.

The sound got hollow and very strange when the background was a waterfall, and also at other times with background sound.

This camera eats batteries, so have 2 or a charger with you.

Video is good, but for this price, is a 720p Vado, Flip or Kodak a better deal? Except for the GPS, the older model has 5.1 surround and is cheaper.

Overall, it is small and a good camera, but pricey.

Product: Hewlett-Packard Q5421A List Price: $452.76 Average customer review: Amazon Price: Too low to display Click Here To See Amazon Sale Price Add to cart to see low price@ Availability: In Stock Usually ships in 24 Hours Free Shipping Available

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The Maintenance Kit worked as it was designed. However, a HP Tech had to be employed to operated the kit, existing employeed were not able to get the kit to perform its designed function.

This maintenance kit was exactly as described and promised. And the best price around.

I call support for these kind of service, it was quoted around $6xx. Then, I tried to order one to do myself! following the instruction, it is very easy!

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Product: Sanyo HD1010 List Price: $649.99 Average customer review: Amazon Price: Too low to display Click Here To See Amazon Sale Price Add to cart to see low price@ Availability: In Stock Usually ships in 24 Hours Free Shipping Available

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For the last few weeks I have been searching for as many reviews as I could on the Sanyo HD 1010 to help me make a decision on which camcorder to purchase. Because I could only base my decision on the 4 reviews that I read here (which did help immensely), I thought I’d share my opinion of this camcorder to help other potential consumers make up their mind.

I should tell you that I am a professional wedding photographer (still images, 14 years) so that you have a reference point of who’s telling you what. I received the Sanyo HD 1010 3 days ago, and had the entire weekend to play around with it.

The quick answer: For my purposes, I love this camcorder. However, this camcorder is not for everyone-you should determine what you plan on using the camera for before deciding to purchase (see below, two paragraphs down).

My wife and I love to travel. I was looking for a camcorder that tooks great video, was portable and took decent still images. The 1010 does just that. I’ve looked at the Canon HF 100 and the Samsung HMX20C and they are also small, but the 1010 just feels smaller to me and more portable. I own a Sony PC9 which was a great camcorder in its day, but it has stayed at home the last five years. (I like to have a camera that I can put on my belt clip or is light enough to dangle from my neck.) The video’s that I’ve used have come from point and shoot cameras that took decent video clips. The image quality (from the point and shoot cameras) is certainly not as good as mini DV, which the PC9 is, but it was always there for the taking. I only recently became interested in shooting better quality video as the size of these new camcorders have come down recently. Understand that I am not replacing my still camera (the Canon G7 is my travel camera) and don’t recommend anyone to replace their still camera with this all in one camcorder. However, the 1010 does take nice stills (a little oversaturated, but quite acceptable). You obviously can only use one camera at a time, so when you are using the 1010 and want to snap a quick photo while you’re shooting video or you stop shooting video, it’s nice to know you can get a decent photo with this camcorder.

The reason this camcorder is not for everyone is the poor image stabilization. If the 1010 had optical image stabilization, it would be hands down perfect! Does this ruin it for me? NO. Most people have a tendency to overuse the zoom lens and pan too quickly. Most of my videos are taken at wide or mid range (travel, scenic footage and family gatherings). When I do pan, I hold the camcorder as steady as possible and SLOWLY pan, almost exaggerated. I do this whether or not the camcorder has image stabilization. You shouldn’t rely on the image stabilization as a crutch. If you use good techniques for average subjects your videos will be fine. I shot 12 minutes of a family birthday party using the techniques I described and my videos were fine, no “motion sickness videos”. However, if plan on buying the 1010 to videotape your young children or children’s sports, I don’t recommend this camera. That’s where a good optical image stabilizer will shine.

Ok, my observations:

* As I said, I love this product. It produces beautiful videos, better than any camcorder I’ve ever owned. I tried all the different quality settings and decided to stick with the 1080i 60fps as my permanent setting. On this setting, I didn’t see any artifacts, or lagging, when panning with image stabilization (IS) off. I really need to do some more comparisons with IS on, but this is my initial impression. I looked at my brother in law’s HI Def Sony with him. He’s a computer/techie expert and we looked together and both agreed on the same things. The 60fps settings on both the 1080i and 720i were better than the 1080p 30fps and 720p 30fps settings. I know everyone makes a big deal about the 1080p setting, but 60fps LOOKS better. It’s smoother. The 1080i and 720i at 60fps are very close in quality on the High Def set, but on my 36 inch Sony, the 720i when panned had some artifacts (don’t know why; didn’t happen on the Hi-def set. I’m sure you techies know). But the reason I’m going to leave it on the highest quality is two reasons: 1.) You should always record at the best setting. You can always down convert, but you can’t upconvert. 2. ) With the software(Nero that comes packaged with the product, I am able to burn a standard DVD taken from 1080i 60fps footage. As others have said, I cannot view the footage at normal speed (views jerky) on my PC(windows XP, laptop, dual core), but I can still burn it un-edited to a DVD which plays beautifully. I don’t have time anyway to edit videos on a PC. What I CAN do, is splice the mpeg 4 clips together in the camera (very easy to do!) and/or edit them in camera, and then burn to the DVD. It’s not Hi-def quality, but it’s DVD quality and still better than any other home video that I have ever produced. I plan on getting a separate USB drive to keep my “albums” in Hi-def and play them back on Hi-def TV, and use the DVD’s as a lower quality (but still good) back up and/or to share with family/friends. FYI, the 12 minutes of footage took roughly 50 minutes to burn. Not bad! I haven’t researched recording on to a Blu-Ray in Hi-def, but even if it’s not till next year, the hi-def footage will be there when I’m ready to.

* I love the size. Not really pocketable as some people claim (a jacket yes, pants, no), but small enough to put on your hip or dangle from your neck (I use a Canon neckstrap made for their Elph camera’s).

* You can “pull” high quality jpegs from your video footage. I was really amazed at how good the images are when you do this! Very clean and smooth.

* The holster case from Sanyo is so-so. It’s ok for a house party or short term use, but the clip is not tight on the belt and there is nothing to prevent the camera from falling out if you snag the case on something or have excessive movement. I bought a UV filter to protect the lens and the lens cap does not fit very snug on the filter. The filter falls off EVERY time I put the camera in the holster. I will look around for an aftermarket case to use instead. I would not use the holster outside of the house.

* The controls/menus, etc, are GREAT. I have never had a camera that navigates so easily and quickly when looking to change settings. This is a big plus and not to be overlooked.

* I use a Transcend 8gb class 6 card and it works fine. Did not seem to take a long time to write the file to the card, but my longest clip was only 3 minutes. Maybe if I shot longer footage, a faster card would make a difference.

* Low light footage is FINE. People have complained about the grain in the low light footage. I don’t have an issue with this. In very, very low light you are going to get grain. Of course! Here’s my experience. I took my family footage at night at a well lit house (lighting from the ceiling, high-caps) and there was no grain. When we went to the dining room for the birthday cake singing, the lights went off, and a single candle lit the room. I had the camera ISO set to AUTO, which appears to me to set the lowest ISO that will take an acceptable video. That’s the way it should be. Anyway, when the lights went off, the video went black for a split second until the ISO adjusted to the candle, and the video had some grain but was fine. It’s not a professional camera. This low light problem that reviewers are complaining about is a non-issue. When the lights went back on, everything shifted back to normal.

* I had no problem with focus hunting. There was very little of it and it was not noticeable. There was one time when the camcorder shifted completely out of focus but only for a split second. It seemed no different from any other camcorder that I’ve owned.

* I’m thinking of getting the wide angle converter (for the travel usage), but don’t really have an issue with the widest angle of view. Yes, I would have loved a 28mm equivalent, but the 38mm is fine.

* Battery life seems fine, not an issue. Again, haven’t used it too much, but I did get two equivalent batteries on Amazon for twenty bucks.

* I find the pistol grip to be quite comfortable and easier to hold than the more common “palmcorders”. Also, I use two hands to hold the camera and keep it steady. I keep my left hand on the LCD screen. This helps steady the camera and keep down the jerkiness when zooming in tight and also panning.

* The flash is pretty good. I was very surprised. However, I found that when I used the flash, it seem to oversaturate the image vs. when I turned the flash off and used natural light.

Conclusion: Great camcorder, great video results. Don’t let the image stabilization issue stop you from buying this product unless your primary purpose is taking video of your young children and sports action.

This camcorder exceeded even my highest expectations. I have only had it a little over 24 hours but so far it has been incredible. the interface is very intuitive, the movie quality is, as far as I have seen, unsurpassed in a camcorder this size and price, and is everything its advertised to be (and then some).

Pros:

light weight

intuitive menu system

REALLY good screen

4MP digital camera

full HD camcorder

can take still pictures while making a movie (I love this feature!!!)

the WOW factor, because every-time I pull it out to use everyone around me goes WOW, what kind of camera is that. no one believes me its a HD camcorder!

so light and small it can fit in your car/purse/back-pocket/pez dispenser.

cons:

price - for me this wasnt a issue. I was able to replace my camera and add a HD camcorder for a reasonable amount.

grip - I would like to have seen the grip area be a bit larger. I have found a way to make it ft nicely in my hand, but if the grip was either larger or came with, say, a plastic extender maybe that you could put on the bottom it would be great. I have put the camera in 6 different peoples hands and they all said it felt nice after holding it for a few minutes. You just have to find a way that it is comfy for your hand size.

screen rotation - the one and only thing , if I were the designers of the HD1010 that I would change (and now you’ll see how nitpicky I am being). If the viewing screen would rotate to the front I could hold the camera in front of me, look at the screen and know I’m in focus / in the shot, and make a quickie recording. Sort of a looking at the camera, blair witch kinda shot. It only rotates to the top and bottom, not to the front. just a wishlist thing. thats the absolute worst thing about the camera so far.

Comparing it to all of the complaints of the HD1000, I can say everything that was complained about in the HD1000 has been fixed. Sanyo even admitted that this is not supposed to be a whole new model, only a upgrade to the HD1000. By that I mean all of the autofocus issues I read about with the HD1000 have been resolved. as a matter of fact I couldnt MAKE it have a focusing problem. I’ve tried low light, bright light, moving subjects, even the fan in my living room. everything focused perfectly.

The camera takes great pictures also. They turned out better than any digital camera I have ever used, albeit I have always used more of the personal point and shoot olympus / nikon type. Dark rooms, outdoors, inside with fluorescent bulbs, you name it the pictures have been better than what I expected.

Like I said, I have had 6 other people try using it, from my girlfriend with really small hands to a guy I work with who is 6′7″ and has Andre the giant hands and they have all loved it. I have not told anyone how to use it. Just handed it to them and said ‘I just got a new camera, try it out and see what you think.’ With no instructions everyone has taken both movies, pictures, and had smiles while doing it. Its rare to find something electronic that anyone can use with no instructions given and the HD1010 is something you can use straight out of the box. It really is fun to use.

bottom line, if you are looking at getting a camcorder, this one deserves a close look. I am very picky when it comes to electronics, and I am amazed at what they have done with this camcorder/camera. Everything I expected when I ordered it has been greatly exceeded. Great camera, ease of use, quality of the product overall, and in the end quality of the movies it makes… you cant go wrong.

UPDATE

——-

thanks to everyone who mentioned you can rotate the lens to the front. I was wrong about that, you can! well, that pretty much zero’s out the thing I wanted them to change so, my new complaint is that it doesnt come with Kevin Smith to make better movies with it

Before HD camcorders became available I had a DV (tape based; standard definition) camcorder. The trouble with DV camcorders is that it is time-consuming to (1) import the movie into the computer and (2) encode it into a suitable format. Needless to say, because of the hassle I wasn’t making very many home movies. Then I purchased an Xacti C4. This camera made a big difference. It was tiny, easily fit in the jeans pocket, the image quality was decent for an SD camera, and most importantly, no post-processing was needed! All you had to do was drag & drop files from the camera to the computer. No waiting for the tape to wind. No re-encoding needed either because the file format is already MP4. To watch the movie on TV all I had to do is drop the file into iTunes, then wirelessly stream the movie to AppleTV. It doesn’t get any easier than this.

Then HD cameras became available. My first HD camera was Sony HDR-HC1. That’s a pretty decent camera. But once again I wasn’t making very many movies because HDR-HC1 is tape based, which means a time-consuming process is needed to transfer the movie and to encode to H.264 MP4 format. So I purchased an Xacti HD1010 hoping to repeat my success with the old Xacti C4 but in HD this time.

My first impression when I got the HD1010 was that it is larger and heavier than I expected. This is not a big camera by any means, but my expectations were set by the tiny Xacti C4, and compared to that camera the HD1010 seems big and heavy. It won’t fit in my jeans pocket either (unlike the Sony HDR-TG1, the smallest HD camcorder available today.)

What about image quality? I shot a test footage in low light. I was not impressed with the image quality. Fine details seemed to be missing apparently due to heavy noise-reduction. I then decided to compare the HD1010 with my old Sony HDR-HC1. I held the Sony in one hand and the Sanyo in the other and simultaneously shot test footages using both cameras, in a semi-lowlight situation. Initially the Sony appeared to have much better image quality. But that was the raw uncompressed footage. I encoded the Sony footage into H.264 and adjusted the bitrate so that the resulting file is about the same size as the one from Sanyo. Now the Sony and Sanyo quality seemed comparable. In fact the Sanyo seemed to have more accurate color. But the big difference was in image stabilization. I didn’t know how good Sony’s image stabilization was until I compared it to the Sanyo. The Sanyo movie is very jittery. This is with Sanyo’s image stabilization on, and with zoom set to 1x. For HD camcorders stabilization is important, and the HD1010 disappoints in this department.

Another disappointment was that although the MP4 files from the Sanyo are compatible with QuickTime they are not compatible with AppleTV. AppleTV expects 720p 24 fps (frames per second). Sanyo supports 720p but it uses 30 fps, not 24 fps. As a result the file has to be converted before being streamed to AppleTV. It is easy enough to convert using iTunes, but it takes a long time. The resulting file is 960×540 not 1280×720 because iTunes gives priority to preserving the fps and at 30 fps AppleTV only supports 960×540.

I like the fact that this camera comes with a soft case. For comparison Sony charges $50 extra for a soft case for their competing HDR-TG1.

Bottom line: I am a little disappointed because the camera is bigger and heavier than the Xacti C4, the files are not immediately compatible with AppleTV, and most importantly the image stabilization is poor, which means you have to use a tripod. For comparison the Canon HF10 has optical image stabilization and it has a 24 fps mode, both of which would have helped me. The Canon is more expensive but it has 16GB of internal memory which HD1010 doesn’t.

Product: Pioneer SE-DIR800C List Price: $399.99 Average customer review: Amazon Price: Too low to display Click Here To See Amazon Sale Price Add to cart to see low price@ Availability: In Stock Usually ships in 24 Hours Free Shipping Available

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I had purchased an inexpensive Sony home theater in a box system that was a pretty nice system for the money spent. But I found myself with problems that had nothing to do with the quality of the system. As I watched movies, I was bothered by various ambient noises from my apartment… street noises, the people upstairs, water running through pipes, the hum of the refrigerator, etc. And, if I was hearing noises from the outside, it’s a pretty good bet that people on the outside can hear what’s coming from inside. So, I needed a solution, and it seemed the mutually beneficial solution was headphones. Unfortunately, while my HT receiver has a headphone jack, it only outputs 2 channel stereo sound, and it seems like a waste to have to rely on that when I have a system capable of outputting 5.1 channel sound. Doing some research I realized there was no way to get surround sound through headphones with the equipment I had, even if I purchased expensive headphones. In fact, many tech-savvy posters on message boards scoffed at the notion of headphones producing surround sound altogether. Fortunately, they are mistaken.

In my research I found out about Dolby Headphone technology and read about the Pioneer SE-DIR800C. Dolby Headphone technology treats the sounds from different channels in a way to make it sound like it’s coming from different directions, the directions they would be coming from in a traditional 5.1 based speaker set up. I had heard the effect for myself with cheap stereo headphones and was not overwhelmed. But since the reviews of the Pioneer system were all so good, I decided to blow my tax return on them.

What this Pioneer system does, based entirely on the movie watching experience, is everything I needed. The simulation of surround sound is completely convincing. So much so that I have a hard time believing its simulated. The headphones are well designed, lightweight and comfortable and do a great job of keeping out sound. I’ve watched several movies so far with them, and often the sounds of the movie are all I can hear through the length of the film… a far cry when I watch movies with my speaker based system. Invariably you forget you are listening to headphones and lose yourself in the film, if you are watching a good film. The sound is clear and open, and the bass is deep, though it can’t recreate the effect of an earth shaking subwoofer. But it’s such a joy to have the volume cranked up without worrying about disturbing anyone. There are some minor inconveniences with the design of the unit… there’s no outputs or remote, for example… but that wouldn’t be a problem if you had a separate receiver with an output and remote… just have a single digital output going from your HT receiver to the pioneer receiver and you can still control all your inputs with the HT receiver remote. I wouldn’t have minded using a wired headphone but this wireless set is flawless for watching movies (if you’re listening to music and want to walk around you’ll lose the signal if you leave the room).

The Pioneer receiver has a separate headphone jack, so if you have one friend over (or two perhaps, with a headphone splitter), they can listen. Since I have no headphones as nice as the wireless ones included in the set, I’m not sure if high end headphones plugged into a Dolby Headphones processing jack would be as effective as these headphones. If I didn’t already have a speaker based HT system, I might have considered looking for one that has Dolby Headphones processing and purchasing a pair of expensive, high end headphones. But since I already had a system, purchasing this Pioneer system was less expensive (though expensive none the less) and offers me everything I could have possible needed. There is one problem with the headphones… you might get spoiled. After using them I saw a movie in a theater with great DTS sound. But I could hear people whispering, eating popcorn, sucking down the last of their sodas, and a man with respiratory problems, and I found myself wishing I could have been using these headphones in the theater.

I am a night creature, which until I moved in with my new roommate was not an issue. Unfortunately, he is a bit of a light sleeper, so if I wished to continue to watch movies at 2am, I was going to need a set of headphones.

I knew from the start that wireless was going to be the only option for me, and I set about on an exhaustive four day hunt online for the best ones I could find, and the Pioneer SE-DIR800C really stood out. of course, so did the price; $300 is a lot to spend on what I considered to be a novelty item, but it was the only one that delivered on both sound and connection performance, so I took the plunge.

And so far, I could not be happier, with a few minor annoyances.

SOUND: GOOD

It really creates surprisingly accurate sound, though all of it sounds just a tad mechanical and tinny. It has several Dolby Pro Logic modes that all sound equally good, and it even manges to reproduce surround sound in a reasonably enjoyable way.

CONNECTIVITY: EXCELLENT

As long as I am in front of the device, it never looses connection. Never. it never pops, or crackles, or goes silent at all, no matter how I move my head, even when I am lying down. However, a suggestion: Don’t turn the headphones on until you get your TV and cable box on first; I get some loud popping if I do that in the wrong order.

Of course, these are line of sight headphones. You have to be in front of the device for them to work, though I have found I can be directly to the side of them with no loss in connection at all.

And there are plenty of audio inputs (1 analog, 1 coaxial, 1 optical) in the back and a clear and simple way to switch between those inputs (though lacking a remote, which is slightly tedious)

BATTERY: DECENT

I seem to be getting about 12-14 hours from the two rechargeable AA batteries that come with the headphones, which is quite good in my opinion. The fact that the base station also charges the batteries is a nice touch, but I was disappointed that you actually have to remove the batteries from the headphones and insert them into the base for this to work. It is a minor annoyance, but I find myself putting regular batteries in while charging the ones that came with it, which kind of defeats the purpose.

DESIGN: POOR

It is just so damn ugly. It is 1970’s Battlestar Galactica ugly. Carrot Top ugly. The headphones themselves are actually rather pleasing in their form; simple and understated. The base station, however, looks like someone stuffed Christmas lights into a digital alarm clock from 1990, complete with large, round plastic buttons all across the top. The entire front of the device is constantly aglow with green and red LED lights. It’s like a condensed version of Kitt’s dashboard next to your television. It looks it belongs in an old Devry commercial. It is really, really ugly.

COMFORT: GOOD

I have found I can wear the headphones for about 2 to 4 hours without having to shift them. I have good sized ears and I can still tuck them perfectly into the headphones. they are lightweight, and with a few pillows propped and folder behind my head, I can wear them lying down with no discomfort.

I’ve had these headphones for about a year. They are comfortable, and the sound quality is great. However, today, the headphones broke. It seems the swivel mechanism is a very tiny and thin plastic piece. If this piece were made of metal, it would be OK, but the plastic can’t hold up. I’m not rough with these, but I didn’t handle them as if they were made of thin glass either. It is physically a poor design, in my opinion as an engineer.

This is too bad. The speakers and audio system are great, but the physical package is not up to the task. They need a re-design, badly.

Product: Bushnell 204100 List Price: $485.95 Average customer review: Amazon Price: Too low to display Click Here To See Amazon Sale Price Add to cart to see low price@ Availability: In Stock Usually ships in 24 Hours Free Shipping Available

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Good optics. Easy to use. Ranged rocks/trees past 1000 yards. A good carry case with silent (magnetic) opening/closing top. Simply a good value for the money.

Product: LG 37LH30 List Price: $749.95 Average customer review: Amazon Price: Too low to display Click Here To See Amazon Sale Price Add to cart to see low price@ Availability: In Stock Usually ships in 24 Hours Free Shipping Available

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I have had the LG 37LH30 for about 3 weeks now. It seems to be an excellent TV and I would have given it 5 stars except for one thing. It has only one optical audio out and no RCA type audio outputs. That means I cannot run the audio out to a simple old amp to power my external speakers. I would need to buy a newer amp with optical audio inputs. The optical gives 5.1 audio, but I don’t have that sort of setup and do not have any 5.1 audio coming in anyway. Other than that it is doing a fine job. I have DVD, cable to the TV tuner, Tivo, PC-VGA and a cable set top box all coming in with inputs to spare. I went through hours of comparisons and feature filtering and am happy with the result.

So here’s the deal, I compared the 2008 model of this LG with a comparable Sony and Samsung. Side by side, feature for feature the LG put them both in the closet. Do yourself a favor and do the same if you’re thinking of buying a TV. As of this writing (mid March 2009) the 2009 model will be out approximately next week. The store I bought from gave me $100 discount if I bought and waited for the new model to arrive. I gladly obliged.

This is my first LG TV purchase (all of my last 5 tv purchases have been Vizio which I consider to have high standards and have not had any problems with them). To date I have found this TV picture clear, menu easy to use and I did purchase a square trade warranty - just in case!

Product: Draper 800019 List Price: $470.00 Average customer review: Amazon Price: Too low to display Click Here To See Amazon Sale Price Add to cart to see low price@ Availability: In Stock Usually ships in 24 Hours Free Shipping Available

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Had this screen for a year, using it with a Mitsubishi HD1000 700P projector from a throw distance of roughly 17 feet.

In short, I’ve been thrilled with the purchase.

With features including a velvet-covered frame and acoustically transparent material, I’m convinced there’s simply not a better value in the market for a screen of this quality. Combined with a good projector, you get accurate colors and stunning picture quality. Service is also excellent when emailing staff at Accuscreens directly, as staff was responsive to answering emailed questions on gain, moire and more for home theater hobbyists like myself. I would highly recommend Accuscreens for anyone looking to make the leap to a bigger, better TV or movie experience at home.

this screen is awesome I totally love it.

downside it came with wrinkles in the screen area, I though the would go away with time but they don’t this is a minor annoyance to me since you only see them when the screen is off.

Extremely Poorly Made. Frame is not sturdy, and all components are very cheap. I switched to an Elite Screen Silver Frame which is approximately the same price, and the quality of the product is night and day!

Product: Metro Vacuum ADM-4PNHSF List Price: $615.00 Average customer review: Amazon Price: Too low to display Click Here To See Amazon Sale Price Add to cart to see low price@ Availability: In Stock Usually ships in 24 Hours Free Shipping Available

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I don’t know why I did not buy one sooner. This thing could suck the chrome off of a trailer hitch!!! I live in an older home and it actually took a piece off old wall paper that had been painted right off of the wall. I’m telling you, this is the vacuum to beat all vacuums. I have told everyone I know to buy one and not waste their money on store brand. I love it!!! I named mine Wilma. These guys know what they are doing.

UPDATE: WOULD REDUCE TO 2 STARS. At no charge, the manufacturer sent a replacement cover to correct the broken rivet. The customer service was good. They suggested bending the wheel into place to straighten the Now, however, 17 months after purchase, the electric power nozzle does not turn on. This follows on several weeks of the nozzle turning on and off intermittently. Now I wish I had purchased the vacuum from a physical store with a buyer protection program. My new strategy is to buy cheap vacuums on a buyer protection plan and get the broken parts replaced. This was way too expensive for the grief.

ORIGINAL: I bought this because I was tired of the expensive, plastic vacuums falling apart within the first year of use. While this vacuum is incredibly powerful (indeed it sucks the area rugs right off the floor) it’s not the indestructible stainless steel canister vacuum of my childhood. Within the first 4 months a rivet broke loose from the canister, making it impossible to close the vacuum. I tape it shut for use now. One wheel drags as well, leaving long black scuff marks on my white floors. I’m underwhelmed, but perhaps the manufacturer will make good on the warranty.

We just opened the box. It took all of 5 minutes to put it together. First thing I checked was the suction. It was great. Two negatives, no auto cord recoil and the exhaust is loud. It is well built, glides nicely along the floor, comes with all the accessories, including two extra chrome metal wands, has a powerful rug beater and the bare floor nozzle has great bristles. It is light weight so it is easy to carry up the stairs and makes it OK to clean the stairs, although I wish the hose was longer. We have had all types of vacuums, Oreck upright, sharp canister, Hoover canister, shop vacs, etc. After all is said and done, when you get right down to it, you have to use a canister vac if you want to really clean. It allows you to get the dirt and dust in those hard to reach places and an upright is simply not going to cut it. We looked at all the vacs, Electrolux, Dyson, Eureka, Kenmore, Bla, Bla, Bla, Ba Bla. Based on price, performance, ease of use, durability and good old SUCTION!, this Metro is the sucker of all house vacs, bar none. It has a toggle switch for low and high suction and the power head is well made. My wife just made a comment that it is LOUD, but man it really feels like the house is clean!! Go for it!!!

Product: Sunpentown RF-440S List Price: $370.00 Average customer review: Amazon Price: Too low to display Click Here To See Amazon Sale Price Add to cart to see low price@ Availability: In Stock Usually ships in 24 Hours Free Shipping Available

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This is supposed to be manual defrost, but after a couple of weeks, mine started automatically turning on and off, defrosting itself several times a day.