Archos Gmini402 20 GB Camcorder and Multimedia Player

• Multi-tasking 20 GB multimedia player with integrated video camcorder/still camera
• Capture up to 50 hours of video (MPEG 4 SP); 2x digital zoom; 1.2 megapixel still resolution
• Compatible with MP3, WMA, WAV, protected WMA, MPEG-4, WMV and protected Windows Media Video
• Plays back MPEG-4 SP video with B-Frames with stereo sound; displays JPEG photos
• Up to 10 hours of battery life for music playback, 4 hours for video playback, and 2 hours for video capture

I got this unit to use mainly as a camcorder. I've been looking for one that has a good size hard drive and this one meets that criteria with 20gb. The unit is very small and lightweight. The color is nice and attractive. But it seems that that design is driven by being snazzy rather than functional. While the LCD is located in the center of the unit, the lens on the other side is placed off to the left. It's hard to keep from blocking the lens while recording. I hope this problem will go away once I get used to holding it with my right hand only. The lens is covered by a cheap built-in piece of plastic which I think will suffer a lot of scratches over time. The buttons could have been bigger. There's no place to hook up a strap. I'd like to use one when I'm recording because with its size it's very likely to fall out of your hands.

The video quality is acceptable. Under the VGA setting, the pictures are sharper, but appear to be kind of grainy. It seems especially important to concentrate on holding the camera steady while shooting. Otherwise, the video looks a bit jumpy. Some of the buttons are not particularly intuitive. For example, there is no obvious "pause" button.

The drawstring pouch included in the package is thin with no padding, and doesn't provide protection for the camcorder. I got one from somewhere else and use the pouch for the cables.

The manual is not thorough. Some of the options and even some of the hardware aren't mentioned or explained. There's one adapter that plugs in the top of the unit with line-in on the one side and AV out on the other. It doesn't have any problem plugging into the TV to play the content, but doesn't record TV; I can only guess it's for recording audio. There's hardly any mention of this either. Also I still don't know what kind of rechargeable battery is used in this unit. It wasn't said anywhere in the manual. It just says the battery is designed to last for the life of the camcorder (whatever that means).

As a multi-media player it doesn't have a built-in speaker, which is a major omission.

If your computer has Windows XP, you can plug it in using the provided USB cable. Copying the the clips to the computer is basically drag-and-drop. I don't know with other computers, but with mine, if the file is lager than 500mb it doesn't let you transfer it to the computer; it says the file is too big. When I change the setting in the camcorder for it to be recognized as a removable hard drive, the transfer works fine. Maybe I need to update the firmware. On the Archos website, there's a couple of new updates, but I can't access them because I have to update to version 1.2 before I can use them. Version 1.2 was nowhere to be found. I haven't tried calling tech support yet. They do have the 800 number listed on the website.

Overall, I'd say the Archos 402 camcorder has a lot of room for improvement, but is nevertheless worthwhile in that you can record and store a large amount of video in very small package.

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I have had the Gmini 402 cam for about a week now, and I have been very impressed so far. I started off looking for a device that I could simply dump digial photos on, but the gadget monger inside of me wanted more than just a mass storage device for photos. This was the best option I could find that included the USB Host(direct connect with digital camera) and a good mp3 player on it.

It has a little smaller hard drive than devices like the Cowon X5 and the Toshiba Gigabeat, but to me this wasn't really a problem, 20 GB was fine. The design of the the Gmini is ok, personally I like the looks of the Gigabeat, and (while not an I-Pod fan) the I-Pod better. It looks a little too much like a gameboy or some kind of game only device. But function won out in that battle, and I had to go with the Gmini.

For those interested in the USB host function, after comparing devices for a couple weeks I found out a few things about the other devices that I didn't like; the Gigabeat for example can only use 2 GB of its 30 GB for photos dumped from your digital camera, and I am pretty sure you can not view those dumped photos either. The Cowon X5 does allow you to view images, but limits the size of individual pictures to 2.5MB each. The Gmini does not have any of these limitations, and has a great viewer for the images as well.

Aside from the USB Host function, all the other features on it have been great. The camera is obviously not real good, but I wasn't really expecting it to be. The camcorder on the other hand isn't bad, obviously its no sony handycam, but not bad. The video player is cool, but i don't foresee using it too much. And as I mentioned before the MP3 player, is pretty much all I could ask for, album art, ID3 compatible, good sound as far as I can tell. Battery life so far has been decent, though simply comparing stats with other devices, it is probably not quite as good.

Overall this has been a great device, and I look forward to using it a lot!

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I purchased this unit for a family vacation. I originally wanted a smaller digital camera that could easily fit in a pocket and would'nt be a problem to carry. I spoke with a sales clerk and he had a few sugestions which were ok, then he showed me this. As a techie I was instantly hooked and forgot what I originally came in for. The concept of having a camcorder that fits in a pocket intrigued me. I bought it, and could not wait to get it home. After a few hrs of playing around I've come to the following conclusions.

The good: Overall id say that it is an amazing little device.

* The video camera is excellent, especially at the lower resolution. When the resolution is raised to vga the video becomes a little grainy but is still pretty good.

* The video / audio playback is flawless.

* The MP3 playback is excellent, controls are intuitive, awesome sound with the right headphones.

* The small size of the unit vs it's fuctionality makes it a unique product.

The bad: My biggest problem with this unit is the lousy still camera.

* The still camera is horrible. DO NOT buy this unit for still pictures, it will disappoint.

* This unit is a little light on battery

* The storage pouch is useless, it may prevent scratches but if you drop it, it's over. Buy a better case.

* I agree with other reviews, the manual is less than informative, but, the controls are fairly easy to figure out.

* Headphones are not the best.

* line in recording is audio only, which is not a really a flaw.

* Lense placement takes some getting used to, my hand naturally wants to cover it.

I hope this helps.

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Archos makes a lot of products with great functionality, but they are also very unreliable and when they break, you have to deal with some of the worst customer service around. If it only takes a month to get a working replacement for your broken product consider yourself lucky. It took a month for them to send me another broken product which I had to send back. 5 weeks later I'm still having to call them up and listen to some lady who works part time complain about all the problems they have with their warehouse.

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This is a great item that Archos designed poorly. The still camera isnt all that great, takes blurry pictures. The video isnt great either; nice FPS but the sound is garbage. Plays great video. Has useless games on it that are also impossible to control because of the location of the buttons. Awful multi-use buttons for scrolling through menus, you lose track where you are in the menu process because none of the buttons are labeled and theres no indication on the screen of what you're supposed to click next. From the factory, the back part didnt fit well against the middle & couldnt get it to fit better; could welcome in dirt or moisture and wreck it.

Great battery life; it lasted for 6 days and about 9 hours of use before I returned it to the store and the level indicator was at 50%+. There is NOWHERE to put a wrist strap or lanyard and thats the main reason I returned it.

If this was redesigned with a no-slip design, case, or wrist strap and better menus, this product would rock.