Samsung x495 Phone (T-Mobile)

Does everything it is supposed to do and does them all well. Just received the x495 as a backup phone (to my P910a) ... no camera, MP3 player, add-in memory cards etc but for a new cell phone user or someone needing a solid phone "that just works simply and solidly" this could be the one.

Pros:

+ Usability is excellent, simple & straightforward

+ strong RF (signal), perhaps not as strong as a Nokia or my P910a but pretty close.

+ excellent speaker-phone

+ clear audio for you & the caller

+ sharp, vibrant screen

+ menus are simple, easy to follow

+ 3 different alarms, great as an alarm clock even works to wake you when the phone is powered off.

+ does WAP/ T-Mobile t-zones nicely

+ good battery life, 2-3 days between charging

+ Outside screen "can" be seen easily in the dark, just hold volume up side button for 1-2 seconds

Cons:

+ no email

+ no easy syncing to get address book, tasks & calendar entrees to/from a PC

Still a "5/5" and a great entry-midrange phone ... it just works, no glitches at all (so far).

This is a basic phone with the added plus of having a SPEAKERPHONE. Unfortunately though the speakerphone seems rather staticky compared to turning it off (so it is not really a reception thing).

Another plus is an external volume control. However, this is on the side of the phone. For me, it is right where I hold the phone, so I seem to be turning the volume up and down a lot unintentionally.

There are only two very bad games. There are a couple pictures on the phone. There is a calendar, alarm clock, timer, and voice recorder (which is nice).

It is small, but the keys are well placed. It is not hard to use at all.

BATTERY CHARGE TIME FAST! It fully charges in about 2 hours. Unfortunately, after 1 day and 3 calls (all under 5 minutes) it is already showing less than half charged. So, I think the battery life may be less than indicated. But, still better than my ancient Nokia.

BUT, POOR, POOR, POOR reception. I am SHOCKED! I thought at first it could be the carrier (T-mobile). To test this, I stuck the SIM card into my old (3 years old) Nokia. Well, on the samsung I had no service to 1 bar but not enough to complete a call on the Nokia I had 3 bars! I placed a call, and no static! Sheesh! So, no, not the carrier it is the phone.

If you search the CNET reviews for the Samsung X475 you will see it has poor reception as well. I took a gamble and hoped this was updated on the 495. But, I guess not.

It is an attractive phone. I like that the time, date, day of the week, battery remaining, and signal strength are all displayed when the phone is closed. But, since I got the phone to actually make/receive CALLS not tell me the time of day, I have to rate it accordingly.

I am going to return the phone and maybe try the Motorola V330 or something else with some kind of antenna.

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When deciding how many stars to give this phone, I decided it really depends on your frame of reference. If you are lining up all the phones currently in production, then you can arrange them in ascending order based on a number of factors. The factors we use to judge a phone naturally include the number of features. So in our hypothetical lineup, there are certainly other phones with more features, and those are likely to occupy some of the top spots. BUT, another way to judge a phone is to ask how well the phone measures up against what it purports to be. This phone has no camera, no bluetooth, and no email client. If those are the features you are looking for, then this is not a 5 star phone. However, this phone, to me, makes a statement abot its intended purpose by virtue of its selective inclusion -and exclusion -of features. While it doesn't have all the bells or whistles in today's spectrum of wireless gadgets, what it DOES do well is act as a phone. And in that context, it is a great PHONE -having those features you would likely want in a device for making and receiving calls. A large, easily readable screen font; a very lightweight housing (made lighter, no doubt, by not including extras like a camera lense); nice key layout with excellent tactile feedback (i.e. the buttons are easy to find and press, and feel good doing so); pretty good menus; excellent color display that can be viewed well even outdoors; a very solid feeling flip (the hinge is strong and pivots smoothly); teriffic battery life; and the phone comfortably cradles your face with it's angled v-shape when open. Although I don't need a camera, I DO prefer to be able to sync with my numerous phone contacts on my PC. I would have liked bluetooth for this reason, but a cable and software is available that I am going to try -I will be satisfied using a cable interface if I can get some good syncing between the phone and PC. Overall, I am conservatively rating the phone 4 stars, because the sky's the limit when it comes to gadgets, and in today's ever-evolving gadget marketplace it is hard to call anything perfect. Bottom line, great phone.

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This is my 4th Samsung cell phone with T-Mobile. S105, E105, X475 and now the X495. I love T-Mobile because they upgrade phones cheaply as long as you extend your contract 12 months as opposed to other carriers who require 2 years. I paid 40 dollars but they gave me a 50 dollar rebate. -10 dollars to get a new phone! Have not had any reception issues as stated by the other reviewer. I love the look and feel of Samsung flipphones. None better. This phone has a clean and unique look, although slightly feminine with the white plastic insert.

Speakerphone is awesome. I can hear clearly and they can hear me. Speakerphone plays through the earpiece but has convenient volume control on the side. Screen is bright but on the compact side. Phone is a little bulkier than most other samsungs, but not annoyingly so. No external antennae so it is clean. Best of all I really enjoy the feel and function of the buttons. Nice separation and also raised off of the body to ensure accurate dialing. Great Battery life. Have had the phone on for 3 days now and one hour of talk time and I am showing 2 bars out of 3 left. No camera, but I think camera phones are overrated anyway. Can't go wrong with this one.

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I bought this phone to repair an older Samsung model. I've had this phone now for a month and it has not given me any problems. I did not need a phone with fancy gadgets. All I wanted the phone to do was to call and receive phone calls without static. A nice added bonus was the speaker phone which works fairly well. Another benefit of this phone was that you could transfer your phonebook and old text messages that were stored on a SIM card staright to this phone. The included ringtones are a bit cheesy but was not a bid deal since I all I wanted was a cheap phone that works well.

Memorex 4GB Digital MP3 Music Player -MMP8595-BLK

• Built-in 4GB flash memory
• Digital FM radio, Stop watch function
• Bright 1.5 inch (measured diagonally) OLED color screen display
• Plays MP3, WMA, WMA-DRM 10, WAV, and JPEG
• Digital voice recorder, Equalizer with presets , Rechargable battery

This item is truly a piece of junk. The MyDJ function is a great idea, but every time I tried to use it (using Windows Media Player) my computer crashed. When on the "shuffle" feature, songs would be repeated a lot. You'd hear one song, hear another one, and then be back to the one you just heard; skip past it and hear it again 3 songs later. Customer service told me to reselect Shuffle (I did that repeatedly, it made no difference). Within 1 month, the battery needed charging after only 6 hours of use. And now the final insult is that after 3 months of ownership, it started warbling (like a scratched record) and then died...permanently. Seriously, an absolute waste of money. Very disappointing. We bought this during our last visit to the States and are back in the Caribbean. There is no way to return this for a refund or repair. Annoying.

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ilove it! its small, its easy to use , the battery charge fast , and during long!

great soung, the only thing isthat i recommend you to change the headphones!

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The battery doesn't hold a charge for very long. This was the case right from the first time I used it after fully charging. The shuffle is not randomized very well. You hear the same songs frequently, even with a full drive. Save your money and buy a real MP3 player.

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This player is a disaster.

Took me 1 hour to figure out how to copy files into it (I am not bad with electronics). The player was half full, while I was able to find only 1 song on it.

The next day it would not start. Returned the player to the store with pleasure.

VideoSecu 4 Channel DVR Audio Video H.264 Network Embeded Stand Alone Security Digital Video Record

No problems with it. Meets expectations. Picture is clear and the interface is intuitive. Unit is quiet and the remote works across the room. I'm very happy with it.

Hardware seems to be fine, but we now have nearly a week invested in trying to get the included software to run properly (still no luck). VideoSecu has been worthless, finally formally giving up by saying they won't support the software at all and we're on our own. Manuals are written in English by non-English-speaking writers and they are a nightmare. For instance, once you change settings in one area there is no option to save those settings. Hours later we accidentally figured out that they labelled the "save settings" button as "setup". The software and manuals are riddled with this crap. Our advice is to find a company with a full support structure and a history of support. You'll be glad you did.

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I had this unit for 1 year, I'm experiencing multiple network issues, I recently updated to windows 7, and a new cable modem, and since have not been able to connect from LAN, or WAN. The tech support offered very little support.

I will be going with another system other that this brand

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I bought this thinking it would be easy to use. Its quite complicated! There are so many features. Its hard to keep up with them all. Setting it up to cameras is a no brainer but when it comes to programming and just plain using it its confusing. If you dont have a lot of time to learn the system it can be a pain. But I am not giving up, I am studying the manual and eventually will know how to do it all!

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This DVR had the best price, and setup was a breeze. I haven't hooked it up to the network yet, but after looking over the instructions, I don't expect any problems.

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SODIAL(TM) 2.5-inch HD Car LED IR Vehicle DVR Road Dash Video Camera Recorder Traffic Dashboard Cam

This unit goes under several names/models and is sold by several different vendors. The unit was not reliable. It would not keep it's date/time configuration. Video quality was so so, but served it's purpose. I had it setup for automatic mode where it would turn on automatically when the car was started and turn off when I parked the car (using the ignition switched assessory outlet). It would randomly not turn on or would not turn off. After having it for about 4 months, it stopped working all together. I would not buy it again.

It makes me cry... Product like this should be prohibited for sale. It fails every aspect of it's purpose:quality, settings... Someone can say: 20 bucks. Well, If I knew what it does I wouldn't spent even 5 on it.

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This product mostly does what it promised, the only thing that could be disappointing is the night vision that is pretty useless. It can see a meter in front of you in the dark and that's it, not much use when you're driving in the night and trying to record, like, 50 meters in front of you, or even 10...

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Onkyo DV-SP506 1080p Upscaling Super Audio CD/DVD Audio/Video Player - Black

• Plays DVD Video, Super Audio CD, DVD Audio, Audio CD, CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R DL, DVD+R DL*1
• HDMI? Digital Interface (Version 1.2a)
• 5.1-Channel PCM Audio Output and Direct Stream Digital (DSD) via HDMI
• Simultaneous Output from All Video Connections
• Three Burr-Brown (PC1796) 192 kHz/24-Bit Audio DACs

I was on the fence with this player, I narrowed my choices down to this Onkyo and a Pioneer Elite DV-58AV and ended up going with the Onkyo since it was lower cost and new (I could only find refurbished DV-58AV's at the time for $100 more). I'm happy to say I was not disappointed with this player. It passes DSD bitstream over HDMI straight to my Onkyo Receiver (TX-SR706) and the sound is as good as my old Sony DVP-S9000ES for SACD's, passing DSD to a my receiver was key to this though as I found that using it's internal DAC's for SACD wasn't as good as Sony ES SACD player. DVD-Audio also sounds very good when using this unit's internal DAC's using the Analog 5.1 channel out, in this case it did sound better than having it pass over HDMI like the SACD's. I actually bought this to only play SACD's & DVD-Audio primarily, which it does very well (especially at this price) so I was pleasantly surprised when I played a DVD in it, the up-conversion is done very well, it even does a better job of up-converting than my BluRay player (Sony BDP-S500) with standard DVD's. If you're looking for a great up-converting DVD player you can't go wrong, If you want to use this as a SACD player I have to say I was impressed when sending the DSD steam to the receiver, as for DVD-Audio I really don't have another player to compare it to, it sound good, not as good as it does with SACD's but much better than the CD versions of the albums. To sum up, this is a great multi-format player for the price, I think the majority of listeners & movie goers would be impressed with the quality and performance.

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I purchased this player primarily to play SACD and DVD audio discs and I have been very pleased with it's performance thus far. It has a full feature set and a simple, yet intuitive menu. I have also had the opportunity to watch a handful of DVDs and have found its performance (sound, picture, scaling, etc.) to be on par with that of the more expensive offerings from Denon and others at a more pallatable price point. Some of these more expensive units offer a broader feature set and nicer remote, but honestly,I have no "real" complaints because as stated above, it's primary role in my ststem is for multichannel music playback. Since Blu-ray players have become the defacto standard for movies these days, there are many affordable options now if DVDs and blu-ray discs are your only media concerns. However, I definitely recommend this product for those looking for a player that supports multichannel music discs and you are not looking to break the bank in the process.

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I have previously owned the 502 and 504 models. Both lasted 5000 hours of use (this is at a cost of under five cents per hour) before they became tempermental. They had senior moments when I selected last memory location and they played some random start point instead. The 504 also got very picky about what It would and would not play. This is the "bad disk" and stopping for a few minutes then playing some material five or ten minutes further on.

Anyway, this is good value for the money which is why I have bought two more in the series. The 506 is new and so does not have senior moments or picky taste in what it plays.

It is VERY important to read the manual through several times and make notes in the margin before turning on the unit. If you are not using the unit in the default settings mode you could have degraded performance. In my case with only two stereo speakers I had to use the settings menu to turn off several of the audio features including surround sound, subwoofer, and center speaker.

As a quick test, I tried playing about six DVDs that the 504 either refused to play or gagged on in the new 506. All of them played flawlessly on the 506. I have no doubts that the 506 will meet the needs of ordinary people for watching their DVDs in a pleasant and nonirritating way.

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The player is super with all the HDMI connections. Excellent performance and resolution of non-HDMI DVDs as well.

Olympus VN-3600 Digital Voice Recorder

Yes it is a nice and small recorder, and certainly one with the best recording time in it's price. But the Olympus VN-3600 Digital Voice Recorder has a few frustrating flaws.

First of all, forget about using low quality recording. You can hardly make out the voices. You can still get 2.5 hours of decent sound out of it at medium quality. That should be plenty for most users.

What's really driving me crazy is the joint buttons for skipping to the next file and for fast forward. Supposedly, if you hold the button, you'll fast forward, a single push will skip. But since both play/pause, next track, previous track and stop are on jog-dial-style button, you can accidentally press stop when you want to fast forward, or fast forward when you want to pause.

Why is this frustrating? Imagine you have recorded an one hour interview and are listening to it. Accidentally pressing next track or stop will skip you from the current point in the recording to the next track or make it stop. You'll have to fast forward to the point where you ended up. And since FF is really that fast, it take a frustrating amount of time. Seperate buttons for fast forward and fast backward would have solved this issue, although there isn't any space for them on the device (since it's so nice and small...)

Maybe this is less of a problem if you've got small finger, although I don't consider mine to be extrodinarily big.

Had I know about this issue in advance, I definately would have opted for another make/model!

It's very good gadget. Before buying, keep in mind what the use would be. For memos/reminders/thoughs its great, and for lectures/interviews too. You can use the LP mode to have 6 hours available, but I recommend this mode only for memos, or things that you don't need to keep crystal clear; the recordings in LP mode are understandable.

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Olympus TP-7 Telephone pick up

i needed to record a cell phone conversation and this was the absolute cheapest way to do it. the earpiece has a microphone on the opposite side that records what is being said by whomever you're talking to, plus your voice (a bit louder). i bought it friday and it got to my house by monday. amazing.

one thing: this mic doesn't have its own power source, so whatever recording device you plug it into must be able to supply power. i used an olympus VN-2100 digital recorder and it worked almost flawlessly. i say almost because the mic doesn't record in stereo, it records in mono. but the record volume is loud and comes out very very clear even if the earpiece/mic isn't right on top of the phone receiver.

you will not be able to do this any better for the money. a lot of online spy shops are charging $200 or more for this same function. i got this mic (which will record cell phone and land line conversations) plus a digital recorder for under $50.

I'm a writer, and I spent way too much time trying to find a good solution for recording phone calls -everything from Skype to Radio Shack gadgets that had to get connected through an analog phone. When I ordered this, I was actually stunned with how simply it works, and how well. I use it with my cell or home phones and it does the job perfectly. It's one of those things that seems so simple, you wonder why no one else came up with this solution sooner. I can't recommend this highly enough.

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I bought this to use with the Olympus DS series recorders, but it should work with most recorders that have inputs. It does come with adapters for mono, stereo, and mini-jack, and, of course you can buy additional adapters...

The phone recording works fine. Have confidence that it's working and remember to keep your own voice low to keep more of a balance in the recording. Sometimes, too, the playback on the computer turns out to be more balanced and better sounding than the sound on the device's own speaker.

And, as a bonus, you may want to use this mic for interviews rather than the tie-clip mic or the RS29. With the TP7 in your ear, it records people speaking next to you, or, across from you, very well.

Bottom line, if I only bought one accessory for recording with a DS recorder, this might be my first and only pick.

If it had a "pause" feature, I'd bump my review from four stars to six....

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Bottom line: the recording quality is certainly servicable. Play the video for a recording sample (using a TASCAM PR-10 Portable Digital Audio Recorder (Black)) and learn about an unadvertized use.

BTW, I feel that honest, effective reviews take the place of first-hand experiences that are lacking in online shopping. I've always appreciated the help I've gotten from other reviewers and continue to return the favor as best as I can. If you thought this review was helpful please let me know by clicking on "Yes" button where it asks. If there was anything you thought was lacking or unclear leave a comment and I'll do what I can to fix it.

BTW, I feel that honest, effective reviews, accompanied by detailed videos, can take the place of first-hand experiences that are often lacking in online shopping. I've always appreciated the help I've received from other reviewers and try to return the favor as best as I can. I hope you found this review helpful and the video at least entertaining. If there was anything you thought was lacking or unclear leave a comment and I'll do what I can to fix it.

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This microphone seems well made, despite being inexpensive, and the sound quality is good. But there are disadvantages. First, you have to wear it in your ear as you talk. That's awkward for me. I can feel it between the phone and my ear and it gets in the way, sonically -you don't hear as well with it in. Worse, it records my voice much more loudly than the person at the other end of the line.

So, yes, it works, and yes, I can get used to it, but it's not an ideal solution.

Ultimate Wireless Dos/linux/macmsd/pwr/95/98/w2k/wme/nt Grandtech

You would think this would be a good thing. Hook up a box to go between your computer and monitor/speakers, and it wirelessly sends the signal to a receiver hooked up to your computer. But it's not that simple. The glowing reviews you see here were either written by employees of Grandtec, or by people with better luck than me.

First of all, there is a nice passthrough cable for your monitor. One end hooks up to the transmitter, and the other end hooks up to your video card, but you can also hook up your monitor to it, hence the term passthrough. However, having this installed makes your screen blurry, even when the transmitter is off. Second, there is no passthrough for your speakers. You have to reroute your sound to the unit; you cannot hook speakers up. I have an amp hooked up to my soundcard, so I merely hooked the GWB-4000 up through the headphone jack of my amp, so I got the passthrough anyway.

So I got it hooked up on both ends. The first problem I ran into was I got no video. The booklet says it supports 1280x1024. This is a lie. So I went down to 1024x768. I only saw the upper/left 75% of the screen, and that's in zoom-out mode. I had to go down to 800x600 to get it to display right. I can't work in 800x600 with everything blurry! And it worked, but only just barely. There were squiggly vertical lines dancing around the screen, as if the transmission wasn't clear. The transmitter and receiver were 50 feet away, around a corner. The unit operates on 2.4GHz. So does my cordless phone, and the range is much greater than that. I have no doubt the signal was fine. I blame the unit for the errors, possibly for the same reason my screen was blurry.

Testing it, I first started the first Deus Ex game. The intro movie has forced subtitles, which did not display, telling me that I was only looking at the top. It sort of stretched it, and pushed the bottom down. When the game started, the tool belt (bottom of the screen) was gone. I loaded a Divx movie with Ac3 audio, and the sound was terribly quiet. The video resolution was fine, but the aforementioned squiggly lines made the movie unwatchable.

I do not mean to accuse the other reviewers of dishonesty, but this device is no good. I can only guess at why theirs worked. Perhaps a Mac does video differently, or maybe they used a PC with an ATI graphics card. I have a PC with an nVidia graphics card. But I don't think what the computer is running is at issue, I believe the GWB-4000 unit itself is faulty.

As always, Amazon is a brilliant place to shop, they had it here very quickly although I selected the free shipping, and the return process has so far been painless. UPS is picking it up tomorrow or the next day. This has not affected my solid faith in Amazon, only in this product. Potential buyers should note that Best Buy and CompUSA will not stock this item. I originally saw this item on CompUSA's web site. I should have been warned when I learned they would not stock it in their retail stores, only the web site. I am, however, glad I purchased it from Amazon.com and not CompUSA.com.

Bottom line: Avoid it like the plague.

I bought this piece of hardware because it was the only wireless solution that I could find. Basically I purchased it so that I could watch AVI files that I downloaded to my computer without having to convert them to a VCD. For this application the device went off without a hitch. The video quality is phenomenal on the TV end as is the audio. The range of the device is also phenomenal and much better than I expected. However, be sure to lower the resoultion on your monitor display to 800X600 so that you can view the entire screen (the instruction manual says 1024x768 but I found this to be untrue).

With any piece of hardware there is always something you wish they had done better, and for this product it is the way it connects up to your system. The product comes with a pass through connector to attach to a standard SVGA port. While the cable works and the video that displays on the tv is perfect, it blurs and distorts the monitor end a little. If you expect your display to be perfect on your monitor you'll have to look for an alternate options of connecting up the device. Lucky for me my video card has a DVI and a VIVO port so I had no problems connecting the receiver to the RCA jack. Also be warned that if you wish to connect a RGB jack, SVIDEO jack, etc. to the reciver it will not be able to transmit this signal wirelessely so you'll have to connect them the old fashioned way.

Except for the issues stated above this is a great product and I highly reccomend it, I just wish they included a bit better cable.

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This product does not work very well. I installed it in two different houses, on three different computers, tried all the fine tuning options, chanels, and troubleshooting tips in the manual. And it never looked even close to good.

This device adds a good bit of static and interference to the video and audio. (yes, i unplugged my wireless router and cordless phones....) It even makes your monitor look fuzzy. At the advice of one of the other reviews I saw here, I even tried a different vga cable. The vga Y cable they include seems to increase the issues. With a different cable, its slightly better but not quite usable. If you plan to use your computer on the television (or just read documents), forget it. Text is so bulry its very hard to read.

If all you want to do is stream a movie to your tv... And you don't mind some static... then this might work for you.

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In case anyone is looking for an updated review, well, here you go. Purchased this in August 2004 and received it really quick. Installation was a little awkward but that is just because the photos in the user manual are in black and white and you are looking at half a dozen colored cables.

As mentioned in the manual, the colors, screen size, resolution etc are all set VERY high by manufacturing default so make sure you can view the TV from the transmitter when you first set it up so that you can adjust everything. Once I spent 5 minutes doing that, the picture was perfect. As mentioned in one of the other reviews, the sound is not transmitted unless your TV has the appropriate hookups. So make sure you have everything on the desired viewer or you could be out of luck. So far for videos though, it's worked exactly as I had hoped.

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This product has the ability to transmit computer generated images wirelessly to a TV. For showing videos or slides to you freinds and family when they come over it works great. Did you ever notice how difficult it is for the whole family to stand around your computer monitor to see the pictures of your last vacation? This is the answer. Anything that displays on your computer monitor shows up on the television and your monitor simultaneously (the cords are included). Everything worked perfectly right out of the box. You have the option to add additional receivers. Naturally, the resolution is degraded for the television because it does not function with the high resolution generated from a computer, but when using for videos or digital images, there is not much of a loss. The system video is composite only and the audio is stereo and it uses the 2.4GHz Frequency, so it typically does not interfere with cordless phones running at 900MHz. All in all an excellent choice for the person who has videos or digital images and wants the option to watch them from a remote TV.

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Pioneer Elite BDP-HD1 - Blu-ray Disc player / digital multimedia receiver

You know when they say: you get what you pay for! There is no exception like this Bluray player. I am in the process of building my HDMI capable cinema home universe right now. After many many searched and evaluation of where to start and what to buy and build, i sort of went this route:

1.bought and looked at all sort of source material both HD and Bluray

2.kept track of the HD wars from all sorts of places

3.looked at lists of movies i wanted to see in HD

4.made lists of things i wanted to see and do with the titles on what TV

Now that i have decided which format, now comes the even much harder part, the TV and surround systms. I was very much in the mood to go with JVC LCOS 70" but after recognizing how this amazing Pioneer handle 24FPS i retracted from that decision.

Let me put it to you folks simple: this player on a component cable connection to a DELL 24'' flat panel looks amazing, astonishing, juicy, delicious, pure, tantalizing and many many words i cant think of! I don't think the DELL would keep up with the player since some bluray titles are not fully 16x9 show-able on a computer screen.

When people have a choice between a PS3 (for movie viewing only) and a standalone beauty like this player, please give this a thought. Its a bit pricey but think of how much you invested so far in the content, audio AV system, and television. This is the icing on the cake. I however reversed my purchase decision since this came out just recently:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665156111

I just received this player and set it up with my Arcam AV9 Processor, Anthem AVR7 7 channel Amp, B&W Front and Surround, Tannoy Rear Surround and Boston Acoustic Center Speakers and watch BBC Planet Blu-ray on my Sony 60 inches TV. I have only one word to describe the performance of all these: "WOW!"

:)

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Philips LFH0884/27 8GB Digital Voice Tracer with Built-In Zoom Microphone Voice Recorder

I have a few recorders and I like the LFH0884 (or LFH882 which I also have) over the Olympus DS-40 because of the following reasons:

What's better on the Philips LFH0884:

--------------------------------------

a) The Voice Activated recording (pauses when there is no sound) will not cut off like the Olympus does. It will also connect the audible parts better and not leave you the feeling that you missed the first 1/2 second of every segments.

b) The quality of the recording and the sound is better on the Philips (frequency range on the Philips goes higher so more "HiFi quality than the Olympus").

c) Buttons are better positioned. With the Olympus, they feel like there are everywhere and it's hard to hold it and not press a button. Philips is easier to hold.

d) Comes with an external mic, and a zoom mic and headset.

e) Can do Mp3, radio (but don't use it for that purpose)

f) Recording range is also what you would expect (some recorder don't have the "range" because they are less sensitive) so no problem with the "range" with this one (I would not expect to record sounds I can't hear but it seems to record all that I can hear unlike some other recorders). The Olympus can also get a good recording, but does not have that "Zoom" capability isolating what you point to and not sounds around that you don't care about (option can be turned on or off if I remember correctly).

What's better on the Olympus:

-----------------------------

a) Heavier build.

b) You can plug in an external power supply so that you don't drain the batteries when you are the recorder sitting in V.A. mode waiting to record for days. That said, the Philips can easily do a full day (and more) on the 2 AAA in Voice Activated waiting mode.

c) Menu is easier to navigate on the Olympus.

Overall, if I had to pick on, I would just get the Philips LFH0844 or LFH0882 because of the button placement, the quality of the recorded sound and the better Voice Activated recordings which works better on this model (it's useless if it cuts off low sounds and makes a choppy recording).

At first I really liked the recorder. It worked well for my class lectures. Then it stopped working. I was no longer able to return to the seller and support from Philips is in Austria. Told from seller to work with manufacturer and manufacturer says mail it to Austria and they will see what they can do. It will cost a lot to ship it to Austria which of course I have to pay for. Seller says buy a new one. Now why would I buy the same product that I know is garbage from a seller not will to help?

Buy Philips LFH0884/27 8GB Digital Voice Tracer with Built-In Zoom Microphone Voice Recorder Now

This device is superior to the Olympus product I previously purchased and is affordably priced, yet its recording capability lacks the tonal quality I am seeking.

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For those who use their voice recorder many. many times each day and have already owned a Philips recorder. Difficult to figure out, counterintuitive (or wrong) button labelling, poorly written manual that doesn't even explain the different screen indicators, absolutely non-existent online support (they send you to "Philips Dictation Solutions, which doesn't have this model), hostile phone support. There is no explanation to be had of what's on the screen. There is no designated power button, even though one is desperately needed, especially to get you out of the bizarre alleyways you can find yourself in. Instead they have an absolutely pointless "hold" slider and an "index button" that toggles between folders, or possibly indexes (they use different words at different times for the same thing). The indexes (or folders) are unnecessary anyway, as you can't label them. But they help make everything more confusing, which is Philips's idea of a good time.

There is also an amazing lack of basic, actually useful features. You cannot fast forward within a given recording. If you are foolish enough to simply tape a 90 minute lecture without hitting the index button every minute (like if you were not there, or trying to pay attention), you have to play through the first 89 minutes at normal speed just to hear what was said in the last minute. So it is not even as practical as a 20-year-old micro cassette deck.

Oh, and the speaker is horrible, too. To get any advantage of Philips's supposedly fine recording, you have to play it back on the headphones.

There is one positive- it's easy to transfer recordings to your computer, and no drivers are necessary.

Buy this if you like figuring out how to work your technological doo-dads as a hobby, or want to punish an employee by making it his job to get it working.

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I'm learnin ! I don't have 14 more words for you at this writing!! Bug-off you darn pest ! Aloha

Panasonic AG-HVX200 P2 HD Camcorder

This one is a winner. I havent put it to too much test because I am still waiting for my 32GB P2 cards. I had done a bit of testing with the FS-100 HD and had to return it double fast. If you want to fully enjoy the use of this camera, its best to go with the P2 cards, they are light-weight and dont have any moving parts. The FS-100s are clumsy, although a great idea, you could easily pull the firewire cord without realising it and waste several hours of valuable recording in the process.

The camera was in great condition and came with lots of awesome extras, though some unnecessary items. Card reader that came with the camera did not work, and seller was unresponsive to questions, but the product was quality and at a great price.

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Smaller components, such as the headphone jack, IEEE1394 jack, etc will fail on you and repairs will cost you hundreds of dollars. I purchased one of these cameras in august of 2009 only to have both the headphone jack and IEEE 1394 port fail only days out of the one-year warranty expiration period.

Do NOT buy this camera because for what your paying (an extremely expensive $3,000+ price tag) you would expect a much more quality product. **These various ports and jacks failing are a known issue with these cameras. See the panasonic forums and other websites**

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Sony produces some of the highest quality full body video cameras on the market.

I produce commercials for a living, and this bad boy never fails me.

Take good care of her, and she will take care of you. Treat it like shit, and of course, delicate parts will fail on you.

The color, and exposure you can achieve with this camera, makes it a great investment.

I do not know how good the stock mic is that comes with it, because I use wireless microphones anytime I need audio. Im sure the quality is there though.

Anyway, If you have the money, and are looking for a quality product that will stand the test of time, this camera may be for you.

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GSI Super Quality High-Definition Helmet Action Audio/Video DVR Camera/Camcorder - USB Interface, I

The camera states it has an IR light, but that isn't accurate. It has a red laser light for focus of the lens. The camera does see in darkness if you have an external IR light source (which thankfully we do). The instructions that come with the camera are 100% useless, you will simply have to play with it to figure it out (it comes direct from China and there are no worthy documents with the camera). Now with that said, our dog has been wearing the camera and it doesn't do bad for $40some bucks, compared to paying over $100. The batteries don't last too long, but in the end, you get what you pay for and as long as you know what you're looking for and what to expect, this camera isn't too bad. If you're not the type that can easily figure out electronics, this isn't the camera for you.

This item did not work at all. I was looking forward to it because of the price.

I returned it a month ago and still haven't received credit.

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That's it in a nutshell, it sits on the side of your helmet so it gives a strange point of view. If it mounted flat on top of your helmet it would be much better.

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This is the first negative review I have written on any of the many Amazon purchases I have made.

This camera is little more than a toy. To compound the poor quality plastic and overall shoddy materials and construction, the camera came with no batteries, evidently directly from China, and no memory card adaptor, both of which are needed to operate the camera. You can do much better than to buy this product. The only reason I do not return it is that another reviewer stated that he was still waiting for his refund after doing so. If the camera sold for about one fourth what it does, it would still not be a good value.

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I believe this one was the first ordered an it did not work properly. It recorded in the house but not when it was on the helmet.

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Lorex ECO 4 Channel Security DVR with 4 Indoor/Outdoor Security Cameras

We tested this for about a week, in various situations. The fact that the system has hard-wired cameras meant our testing was limited to a reach within cable distance. For a permanent installation, you can stick these anywhere. They are both outdoor and indoor use.

If you think that you will be able to enjoy split screen use on your PC monitor, it won't happen. This system needs its own monitor. If you hook it up to your PC monitor, you'll have to unhook it to use your monitor for PC use. However you are able to view as many cameras as you have hooked up (comes with 4) at once, via a quad screen display.

You can access your camera images, live, online (instructions in manual). However in actuality this caused some difficulty. The images would freeze, lag, or otherwise not update, on a pretty regular basis. Hours spent trying to figure out why, left us frustrated. It was the same from our smartphone as it was on a remote computer.

PROS

The recording is crisp and clear, ID'ing someone on the recordings should be easy if necessary

It works just as well in low/no light as it does in regular lighting

Compared to other cameras we have tested in this price range, this is a great system at a great price, if you don't mind the cons.

This is comparable to a much pricier system we installed at our shop, and in my opinion the video quality and ease of playback on this Lorex system are actually superior.

CONS

Not wireless

It needs its own monitor

Online viewing can be spotty and tedious

I had to buy another cable to work with the system

Overall however we liked this system very much, the quality of the images on this system is better than many higher priced systems, and the ease of playback and finding events was impressive. We will eventually install this system throughout the house and enjoy using it full time.

I've been watching the price of security cameras drop for a while, but the price of this package really caught my attentionthe same package is being sold at Costco right now for $50 more! Just a few years ago, a good IR illuminated camera would cost well over $100, and a 4-channel DVR would cost $350 or moreand here we have four cameras and a DVR for less than the price of a DVR alone. So just how good is this package?

Pretty good, actually. I've only got one of the four cameras set up so far, but it works very well. Image quality is good, and the IR illumination provides coverage out to the boundaries of my small suburban lot. Setup is very easy. Plug a VGA video monitor (I happened to have a Hitachi LCD display left over from my last Windows system) into the DVR,, plug in the power and mouse, optionally run a cable to your Internet router, and you're ready to start adding cameras. Each of the four supplied comes with a wall wart power supply, a mount, and 60' of cable, which is probably enough to cover the typical small business or home with careful DVR placement. The cable carries both video AND power, so you can locate your power supplies on a strop alongside the DVR itselfmuch easier than running two cables, or trying to find power near the camera (although that's an option.) I'd like to mount one camera on the front of my detached garage, which means I'll have to make up a custom cable for that location. I've got a spool of surplus silicone-filled, buriable RG-6 that should work, and I can pick up power for the camera in the garage.

My single camera is temporarily mounted out a second-floor window in the back of the house, but I'll be adding the others once I decide where to drill, and where to run the cables. The easiest thing to do would be to put the DVR in the basement, along with all my networking equipment. You'd think having the DVR in the basement would be kind of pointless, but one of the really nice things about this system is that it's networked. You can view the DVR output from any computer on your home networkor if you've got a smartphone, from pretty much anywhere. There's a motion detector built into the DVR that allows you to program it to send you alerts via phone, another very useful feature that used to only be available on high-end systems.

Summary: For the money, there's a lot of hardware here. Time will tell how well it holds up under use, but so far it looks like a good value for the homeowner or small business owner looking for a good video security system that won't break the bank.

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I bought this to use before going on vacation and have been satisfied with the results for the most part. A couple hours for the install, a few minutes to setup the software. Produces a great picture for daytime and a fairly good picture for nighttime. I love being able to watch the video feed on my Android Phone from anywhere I am. After a month I did have one camera stop working. I called and faxed in the information to get it replaced. I am awaiting a new camera so I will follow-up on this review once I see how well their customer service is.

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I set this up over about a week and though it works well, the lack of quality is a cause for concern. I have my doubts that the cameras will hold up to exterior conditions and found some of the camera connections to be quite flimsy.

The thread that is inside the camera body is not really strong enough and strips out if over tightened even by hand!

The cables are long enough and the set up is fairly easy if you are enough of a handyman, a card comes in the package that appears to offer free installation but the wording is dodgy enough to give me doubts as to if it is really free or not.

I have three of the cameras up and working, the quality of the video is quite good , full color in daylight, monochrome at night, the fourth camera does not work properly, it seem to be an issue with the cable itself. The camera works when connected to one of the other cables.

I have not yet connected the system to the internet and not sure if I will but will add an update if I do. On your TV screen a window divided into for appears with live images form each camera, a C on each screen denotes that it is recording continuously and the 500 GB hard drive will hold plenty of video. It can be adjusted to record when motion is detected and individual cameras can be set to record or not.

It has a lot of features, a few "help" videos are available on the included CD which offers a player for the video playback on your PC if you plan tot use it that way.

For the price, it is an OK system but I am just concerned about the lack of quality built into this system.

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Purchased this item after several incidents of dumping in back alley.

Easy to set up and install.

Works ok both in the day and night. The cameras work but the resolution is not good enough to be able to read license plates.

The recorder works ok but is a little tricky to find the time you are looking for, it goes in 15 minute increments.

After purchasing found same system for as much as 100 dollars less elsewhere.

For a basic system guess it is ok.

Sony ICD-SX1000 Digital Voice Recorder

Okay, I'm a guy who records his entire life, so data rate is something really critical to me. Previous Sony voice recorders used a proprietary Sony compression method (in addition to the higher data rate methods) that allowed for a decent-quality stereo recording that consumed 1 Gigabyte every 86 hours. Well, at the LOWEST data rate with this recorder (a storage-hungry 128 Kbps mp3) it takes 16 Gigs to record about 10 days. That's INSANE!!

So, while I LOVE this device and all its amazing features, I definitely can't use it as my 24/7 recorder. I have to back all that stuff up to TWO hard drives! 16 Gigs every 10 days to two drives... sorry... that's excessive. Sure, storage is cheap these days, but that's a lot!

Aside from that major gripe, this device is amazing. 96/24 recording... I don't even do that on my high-end equipment! Sounds great. Has a memory stick slot that the previous devices had dropped for some reason (my last one was an SX750, which totally crapped after two years with its 2 GB internal memory being the only recording option). You can set the level on the device you plug into the mic input (mic/line) which is nice. It's not just considered a mic-only input as in earlier devices. Limiter AND low-cut filter. Nice.

One really cool feature is the transpose. You can go up or down in pitch without noticeable degradation maybe as much as a step, but a half step of transposition is virtually free of artifacts. This is great because I play the sitar and frequently tune to C#. It's very nice to be able to bump a recording up to D or down to C without really being able to hear any digital artifacts.

Cross-memory recording is cool. If you are using the built-in memory and it fills up, it will automatically continue onto an installed memory stick. Very convenient.

One thing they took away, though, is the ability to create a new file by pressing a button. You can place markers by pressing a button now, but if you want to start a new file you have to stop recording and start it again. That sort of bites, because when I review old recordings, the creation of a new file is how I used to indicate that something interesting was happening. This is yet another change after more than 12 years of using previous recorders (MX1, MX515, MX20, BM1, SX750). Not sure why they did that. As someone who records 24/7, I need an obvious way to delineate events, and starting a new file is the best way.

Calendar, sleep timer, alarm... interesting new features, but again, since I leave it running flat out, the calendar will only show a new date/time if I stop it and start it again. Otherwise, the beginning of the current file is the date/time for up to a few days of recording.

Don't get me wrong. This is an AWESOME device! I will take it with me whenever I have some stereo recording out in the field that I want to do. But I got it to replace my broken 24/7 recorder (the SX750) and sadly it can't replace that because of its huge data rate. So I'm back to using the MX20, which is getting a bit old now, but hey, it still works, rusty mic guards and all! :-)

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Sony GV-D200 Digital 8mm Portable Video Recorder

• The Sony GV-D200 is an ultra portable VCR for recording and playing Digital-8 format videocassette tapes
• Also plays Hi-8 and regular 8mm videocassettes
• Integrated 20-segment assemble editing allows editing of up to 20 assembled scenes at a time
• Built-in IEEE1394 FireWire iLink interface port allows easy and direct connectivity
• Composite ports allow tapes to be viewed on any TV

If you are like me and have tons of old 8mm (or Hi8) tapes lying around, this 8mm Walkman is perfect. I upgraded to MiniDV but forgot to transfer my old 8mm tapes before giving my Canon 8mm camcorder away, so with this I'm not stuck with useless tapes. It plays back regular 8mm, Hi8, and also Sony's Digital8 formats. You can hook it up to a VCR or TV, and even to a DV-savvy PC. I capture my 8mm videos to my Fujitsu LifeBook C2210 laptop, using Windows Movie Maker 2 (download for free on Microsoft's website). I'm now about 40% done with transfering my old tapes, but I also enjoy hooking this up to my TV and playing back old tapes and re-living old memories. Ah, how time just flies...

Buy Sony GV-D200 Digital 8mm Portable Video Recorder Now

I am in the middle of a project to get all my many "old" Regular 8 and Hi-8 recordings onto hard drives and thence onto DVD's. In the midst of all this old my Sony CVD-1000 died on me, and I have, over the years, spent too much on repairs for it. This led me to the Digital 8mm Walkman. I have NOT used it, and will not use it, for RECORDING (I do not record in Digital 8 format). But for playback it is superb. I am very pleased with what it does. very. I suspect that some of my satisfaction comes from the Sony introduction of video-processing circuitry, which evidently cleans up the images remarkably. However, there is a price: some of my "pans" now involve a degree of blurring, which I do not think are present when played "unprocessed". But I have decided I am more than willing to accept this negative in face of the excellent video I am now capturing. So my five stars are based SOLELY on playback. One can cut out the video processing if one wishes; it is quite easy. Incidentally, the small size of this unit is a welcome plus; my workbench is already quite crowded with equipment, and I appreciate the Walkman's very small footprint greatly!

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This device has at least prosumer level recording and playback capabilities. I hooked it up to my 3CCD camera and the results were extremely satisfying when using the Digital 8 mode. It hooks right up to the computer with the 1394 connect and I can extract capture points, fast forward, rewind etc. by clicking the mouse. It supports 625 Horizontal lines of resolution which exceeds my hi-end camera and I can not express enough the clarity of the image. No specks of colored snow or artifacts dancing in the dark areas of the image as I previously had with my pro level SVHS recorder, only crisp, smooth, detailed image rendering. The sound quality is also excellent. For what I wanted it for,, it is better than perfect and for what I will also use it for it is a blessed device.. I highly recommend this recorder/player to anyone needing portability, quality, and professional results for mastering to video tape and of coarse for playback.. The only thing that scares me about this device is how light and small it is,, but at the same time, it's exactly what I need. Hope this info helps someone out there in deciding. Peace..

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Of the many reasons one might purchase this item, I bought it for just one. To transfer my Hi8 & 8mm home video to a hard drive before my tapes deteriorated any more. With its built in Time Base Corrector ( TBC ) and Digital Noise Reduction ( DNR ) I was able to output a DV signal "FROM THE DECK" and get ( in my opinion ) the highest quality transfer available.

There are other options available to do these transfers. One is to buy a Digital 8 camcorder that will output your analog tapes to DV. However, I'm not aware of any of these cameras being built anymore so you would need to buy a used camera. Many people go this route with excellent results. It certainly is a cheaper option than buying the Sony deck but you are buying a used product and can't be sure of it's condition. I bought the more expensive NEW deck choosing to pay for peace of mind. Either way you go you can sell your transfer deck or camcorder once you've finished your project and recoup some of the original expense. Another route is a transfer service which has the potential to be very expensive. My research into this tells me most services would not be using equipment of any higher quality than the Sony or even the camcorder option. Those few that do use hi end transfer decks are using older machines since they haven't built new ones for some time now. Even if they are well maintained and up to spec they will be outputting an analog signal before going through an Analog to Digital converter. I'm not sure quality wise they could do any better than the Sony and again it could be quite expensive.

If there was a down side to the Sony it would be you can not view the menu from your computer. You must use an extra monitor for that. I did not find this a big deal. Also, it seems every time you put in a new tape you have to turn off the deck for about 5 seconds for the computer to recognize it. Again, once you figure it out it's not a big deal. Other than that it was real easy to use. I spent a lot of time researching this. I transferred almost 1 terabyte worth of video. I was very happy with the deck. Some of these tapes were 20 years old and although some gave me trouble I was able to transfer every bit of footage. I did purchase a Sony dry type head cleaner and used it. About $30.00. I hope my research and review helps someone out there. Thanks, Steve.

May be the last of its type to play both analog 8 and digital 8. Have been told Sony's newer digital8 camcorders are not backward compatible! Only drawback to this item (our business now has 4 of them) is that as they age, the circuit boards start to give the wrong instructions, i.e., our oldest model will often go into record mode when hitting "play." Suggest you always close record tab (why did Sony reverse the record tab procedure that other tape formats use????) before hitting play and the problem will not occur. This has been a vital item for our video transfer business, but not necessarily an item the average consumer needs.

Dakota Alert DVR-01 Digital Video Recorder (DK-DVR-01) Category: Time Lapse VCRs and DVRs

Received my Dakota Alert DVR-01 yesterday. After going through the manual and setting up the time date stamp, it was ready to go. It worked as described. Haven't truly tried it yet for the purpose I bought it but it will be put to work tonight. One thing I noticed, if this is going to be a covert device, the green recording light should have been positioned behind instead of in front with the lens and PIR. I solve that issue by putting a black electrical tape on the green led to hide it's recording function. The PIR is very sensitive and record exactly 30 seconds of video everytime the PIR is activated. I would give this a 5 star but because of the placement of the recording LED, I'll just give it a 4 star. I might buy one or more of this product for other applications I have in mind. I highly recommend it.

ADDENDUM February 20, 2012

This is really a good product. It does what it described to do. I covered with an electrical tape the flashing green light when it's recording but the 8 IR leds glows in the dark during recording. So much for covert? If I had known, I probably would not give the review a 4 star but I didn't know it and it was never stated in the manual that IR leds would glow while recording. There were about 20 recordings of 30 seconds each during the night. Some were triggered by the dog walking aimlessly and also captured my waking up twice in the middle of the night walking on the hallway heading to the bathroom. Overall, I'm satisfied with the product and I wish I could also cover the IR leds with electrical tape but then it would lose it's IR recording capability.

Camera and DVR work as expected. Picture Quality is good with natural lighting. Even in low light conditions. However, IR camera gives fair quality pics. at night. One note. The camera has a 2 sec. delay when operating under battery only conditions. But a 0.5 sec. delay when operated w power cord. This could make a difference when trying to "catch" a rapidly passing target.

Things I liked best: small size, easy to hide. Stand alone DVR w internal micro SD card (4gig).

Things I liked least: Red LED's for night operation, Complex date and time setting procedure.

However, I'm satisfied so far.

Buy Dakota Alert DVR-01 Digital Video Recorder (DK-DVR-01) Category: Time Lapse VCRs and DVRs Now

This camera works exactly as advertised. I did buy (separately) a 16gb SD card so I could capture more hours of data before the device starts copying over existing files. Resolution is decent and it is easy to download the files to a PC. Only drawback is you have to view individually a lot of 30 second files to find the one(s) with the bad guys.

Read Best Reviews of Dakota Alert DVR-01 Digital Video Recorder (DK-DVR-01) Category: Time Lapse VCRs and DVRs Here

I purchased this unit from Home Controls Inc. through Amazon. It is a basic unit that does pretty much what it says at the Home Controls site When it senses motion it films 30 seconds and saves the video and audio to an on-board micro-SD card (expandable.) Video quality is good for an inexpensive unit and it requires no wiring or external video recorder. (Daylight images are a little washed out because of the IR night vision, which is normal for this type of camera.)

Unfortunatley I received a defective unit which does keeps filming clips over and over once it has been triggered by motion. The manufacturer seems willing to back it up but since I purchased it through a third party I can only exchange by paying return shipping and waiting to get a replacement. Since I needed this camera for a specific purpose this week I am afraid that will be returning it.

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This is a product that delivers exactly what it advertises. The product takes very clear videos and is fairly easy to setup and use. The only improvement that I see that could be made is if the product had a longer battery life. I would highly recommend this product. When I called the company for support an actual human answered the telephone (wow).

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Oregon Scientific ATC 9K Full 1080P High Definition Water Resistant Action Camera with G Force Sens

Executive summary: the video and stills quality is good; the beast seems relatively rugged; the mount design (or execution?) is flawed; the software is NOT available for the Mac, so the GPS module is useless to Mac people.

In the order that the rating attributes were listed -

BATTERY LIFE: seems ok. You need to be extra careful that the cable is _fully_ seated in the camera's socket. It will partially engage and _seem_ to be doing something when it's not.

The USB socket is inside the camera and can therefore be accessed only when the camera back is open.

Read carefully this next little bit... it's not really clear from the very limited product documentation.

If the camera is ON when you open the back and insert the USB cable, the display switches from showing what the lens sees, to showing a stylized picture of a USB cable... then it blanks. In this mode, your computer can see the camera (if the SDHC card is still inserted) as a USB drive. The camera battery is NOT charging in this mode.

If the camera is OFF when you open the back and insert the USB cable, the red light on the front comes on, and the battery begins charging. The red light goes off when charging is complete. In this mode, your connected computer can't see the camera as a device. You can charge, or you can transfer videos, but you can't do both at once, and you must disconnect, press buttons, and reconnect to switch between the two activities.

EASE of USE: It's fairly straightforward. Of the five little buttons on the back panel, one is power on/off, so that leaves 4 for everything else. Menus make sense, but are a bit un-handily nested for 3-button navigation.

WHEN the camera is on, two big buttons on top of the lens barrel can start/stop video or take photos. Good for when you are wearing gloves. HOWEVER, the display blanks after the camera has been running for a while (battery-saving feature), so you need to press once to wake up the display (and apparently the control interface), then press again to stop recording. So, you can't operate this puppy blind. At least, I don't trust it to be doing what I tell it unless I'm looking at the display.

The mounting system looks like a good idea, BUT, in order to be flexible, it has multiple piece-to-piece connections. A lever-clamp ring encircles the barrel of the camera, quite snugly, but allows the camera to be twisted around its long axis, and locked at any degree (so you could top-mount, side-mount, under-mount and still have the camera taking pictures upright). The ring's base has a free-spinning knurled knob (about 3.5cm across), the underside of which is threaded. Next, there's a piece with two spring tabs, that clips into a helmet mount or a bicycle handle-bar mount, exactly as headlights, bike computers, etc. do. That piece has a threaded portion on its top, that fits into the base of the camera-holder ring. Then, that assembly snaps into a helmet mount or handlebar mount, and you can swivel the camera 360 degrees before you tighten-down the knurled ring.

Basically, this arrangement allows you to spin/rotate the camera in two axes and lock in place. BUT the snap-in piece that mates to your handle-bar or helmet is a bit undersized. This means it does not bind when you slide it in and out of a socket, but it also means that THE MOUNTED CAMERA WOBBLES ON ITS MOUNT. Just a bit, but enough. No matter how still you try to keep your head, every ripple in the road, every breath you take, causes the camera to wobble ever-so-slightly. This translates to constant jiggling of the video.

About the only solution is to jack the camera into its clip-mount, then shove a shim into the mount, to take up the slack and stop the wobble. Good luck finding a suitable shim.

I also find this camera, with this mount, useless for skydiving video. The shaking from the 130mph wind makes everything a blur. Under canopy, much better, but that's only half the job... If I need ten feet of duct tape to solidify a camera mount, I don't want that camera to record a skydive. Also, I can't see the plastic mounting pieces surviving more than one or two hard openings.

MICROPHONE QUALITY sucks. Part of the problem is that there's an audible "click" each time the camera wobbles in its mounting socket. The other part is, it's just muffled. If the camera is on top of your helmet and you have a yelled conversation with somebody six feet away, it will mostly pick up your voice and mostly miss theirs entirely. For skydiving, just cover the speaker/mic vent with duct tape.

VIDEO QUALITY: is pretty good in 30-frame-per-second 1080p mode you can almost read the license plates of cars that overtake you, or that you overtake. In 720p mode, you do get the advertised smooth slow-mo, but those same license plates are an unreadable blur. Similarly, faces of cute chicks that you pass are blurry. Oh. Did I say that out loud? :-)

However, this thing really wants a bright, sunny day. If you were doing night-skiing (on a lit hill), it would give a dark and dingy picture the camera's night mode doesn't do much, that I could see. I wanted it to capture A-holes doing stupid/dangerous things in traffic (that I could later blog about), while I commute by bike and on foot, but half the year, I'm going home at dusk or under street-lights (we have winter here in Canada). In those conditions, the camera does a poor job of capturing vehicle ID or idiot-driver faces even at a well-lit intersection with the offending car not six feet away.

Y'know those general purpose video cameras that every family has? The ones with 30x optical zoom and all the features? The ones that can capture details in the smiling faces gathered around a birthday cake lit by nothing but a few candles? Yeah, well this camera absolutely does NOT have that kind of sensitivity or range/adaptability across ambient lighting conditions (never mind zoom and other features that would be useless on a ruggedized action cam). Even on a sunny day, if you drive from a lit patch of pavement to a stretch that's shaded by some trees, the camera takes several seconds to adapt. Then when you leave the shaded area, back into full sun, the camera washes everything out for a few seconds. On a road or path with lots of alternating light-and-shade stretches, you don't get to see much, swinging from dark and gloom to over-driven glare while the camera tries to keep up. My poor old eyes adapt without effort and barely a noticeable delay. The camera needs better-optimized algorithms... but I don't see a way to update its onboard firmware, even if Oregon Scientific provides a download remember, I've got a Mac.

Given the failings of the mount, I think the camera really, really, really should have had image stabilization. I'd pay another hundred or two for the same camera with either optical or digital image stabilization.

DURABILITY: Can't really comment on that, as I've yet to really abuse it.

SOFTWARE: I've got a Mac at home, so the software doesn't exist for me. That means, the GPS module doesn't exist for me either, since you can access it's features only if your computer runs the software.

OVERALL: I guess I'll keep it. Maybe buy a GoPro HERO 1080HD. Mount the Hero looking forward, and mount the ATC9K looking back. Knowing what I know now, I would/should have gone GoPro. Not by a huge margin, but... Hope this helps somebody making their choice.

kevin (Ottawa, Canada)

I returned my Contour HD to exchange for the ATC 9K. In my opinion, this is the best action / helmet camera available. We got interested in the action cameras with all the ads run by GoPro; but I don't like the GoPro look in my opinion it looks pretty geeky, like some kids toy stuck your head where the ATC 9K looks like a real action camera. So here are my main advantages in the 9K:

1 Integrated shock and water resistance built in not in some plastic outer case. I didn't like taking my camera in and out of the case, and then in the wet weather risking exposure of my delicate Contour or GoPro to the elements. No worries with the Oregon Scientific.

2 Lots of mounting accessories included with the 9K. It cost more for the camera in the box, but costs about the same by the time I added the Contour protective case, the bike mount, and the helmet mount. More mounting options and adaptability with twist of the camera (not possible with the GoPro) in the housing and/or pivot of the housing base.

3 Integrated LCD. What you see is what you get. Why pay more for some add-on. I want to review right now in my extreme sport live in case we need another take/ski run to get a better shot to know everything is lined up in the shot now and avoid any surprises when I get home and download.

4 Optional GPS tracker and the integrated G force sensor are an absolute must for an action camera. Oregon Scientific knows this business and builds a great product. The PC interface is awesome.

5 Better audio than the rest. No outer protective housing to muffle the sound.

If you get an Oregon Scientific ATC 9K enjoy!

If you get a GoPro Hero good luck with that!

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I got some really great amateur snorkeling video up until I lost the camera. Fortunately I had downloaded it before loosing it. I had the camera attached to the strap base with a lanyard which was attached to my wrist. While swimming the strap base detached from the camera. When I reached for the camera to do some recording the lanyard was attached to my wrist and the camera base. The camera was gone. So somewhere on a beach in Hawaii or floating in the Pacific ocean is a perfectly good ATC9K camera. Reading other reviews I find that the attachment system for this camera is weak so be cautious with it.

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This is a great helmet cam. It is the second one i have owned. I sold the first one, there was nothing wrong with it and it had survived several crashes. I use it when I race motocross. The video is great and the camera mounts and removes very easy. The GPS is a great added feature, however only works in their program. Only drawback is that it records in MOV and QuickTime is need to view and edit video.

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I'll make it short:

pro:

the display is awesome to control your recording angle and review taken shots. I don't know how Go Pro users manage to get along without it...

the controls are easy to reach and the remote control is even better. :)

image quality in the sun is really nice

inexpensive (at least in Germany) in comparison to the Go Pro

con:

the mounts are wobbly and fragile. I had to be VERY creative to get them into a stable position (I succeeded, though, with duct tape and metal plates). After half a year of frequent use, some of the plastic mounts start showing cracks and will probably break in the near future.

shutter speed is bad, if you have fast changes of light (riding in a forest with sun coming through the trees), the image gets quite blurry

All in all, it's a nice cam if you want to put some special time in it trying to create a custom mount. For out of the box use, it's NOT worth the title "action cam". Yes, you might be able to attach it to the inside of your car without ever having a problem, but as soon as it gets rough (mountainbike, freeskiing, rafting), expect shaky results and short lasting plastic mounts. :/

However, one final piece of advice: NO action camera will ever give you raw footage like the one you see in all those pro videos on youtube. The key to a great POV video is the shooting setup (creative angles, a fixed point/something/one that you're filming in front of you, no contre-jour!!, ALWAYS record in 60fps if you're filming fast things) and EDITING!!! With a decent editing program (Magix Movie Edit Pro Plus, Final Cut), you can make an awesome edit out of crappy footage.

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Sandisk Sansa® ExpressTM MP3 Player 2GB

• It provides you with everything you need to play your favorite music, enjoy your best photos, and listen to your preferred FM radio stations
• Able to play MP3, WMA, WAV, and protected WMA DRM music files, and supports JPEG, TIFF, PNG, BMP, and GIF as import media types
• Screen can exhibit up to 64,000 colors, lets you choose to display album cover art for the current song via ID3 tag support or photo thumbnails
• 2 gigabytes of built-in flash memory allows you to store up to 1,000 songs, MicroSD cards effectively expands your memory capacity infinitely
• Comes in a stylish black, with earphones, a USB cable, and a rechargeable and removable lithium-ion battery

I did quite a bit of research to get this one. and here are the reasons, I arrived at this decision:

Pro:

Size: It is pretty small yet not hard to use the controls

FM Radio: That's pretty nice in such a small MP3 player. Top that iPod

Expansion slot: The micro SD card makes this player future proof. Have more music to upload? get a card and you are done. iPod doesn't have it.

Voice recorder: was not on my wish list, but nice to have.

changable battery: battery goes bad, you can change it. iPod can't do this.

If you hit a button by accident while listening to the music, the button just wakes up the device then you can tell it what to do. Small feature but saves a LOT of annoying moments.

Sound is pretty good, unlike some reviews I have read. It is pretty much in par with other MP3 players especially iPod which is the benchmark these days.

Price: half of iPod Nano.

Con:

The package only comes with a USB charger. I have seen some plugs that have a USB output, or you can get their optional AC adapter.

Memory slot although nice, but there is no dummy card in it to avoid things getting stuck in it, so I just put a cheapy micro SD to fill the hole.

The screen could use some more contrast or better color scheme to display the menu better. You get used to it right away, but I am being super crtitcal here.

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My 3 year old 512k Sandisk developed a lose earplug mount so it was to upgrade. The store I went to was offering the C250 model for the same price as the C240 model so I bought it.

The new unit is nice. The sound is better than my older model and the 64k color display is decent. You can view photos on it if you wish. It has a rechargeable lithium polymer battery which is a minus as they wear out over time, Sandisk makes up for this a bit by making the battery replaceable (although the kid at the Be-st buy store was wrong when he said it wasn't--maybe he was just trying to sell an extended warranty plan--bah). Still, I miss the flexibility my older player had with its AAA battery and the older one had a very similar battery life as my new one.

It has a passable FM tuner with decent reception. It won't work as well as a home receiver but it works okay. Sadly, Sandisk still does not sell a player with AM capability, another minus.

The unit has shuffle play but not random play. (By definition, shuffle play will potentially repeat a song already played, while random play will not). This is an OS weakness that would be easy to implement in the OS code, but most manufacturers don't bother.

Sandisk no longer uses a true FAT32 file system so their newer players have lost an enormous amount of flexibility compared to the older units. Now, I can only play music by "Artist", "Genre", "Song", and "Album". You no longer can pick a folder of music to play so you are limited by the predefined categories.

My old unit allowed the ability to play dance with pop by putting them in the same folder and simply playing from it. With the new unit that would be impossible without messing with the ID tags because now I can only select dance or pop but not both at the same time. It is "all" music or "one" genre, but not "some" genres. Clearly a big weakness.

From what I can tell, the unit uses the contents of the ID1 tags, so you need to have them properly populated. It does use playlists but I tend to not use them. I read that this unit only supports 1 playlist but I have yet to confirm that. If it allows multiple playlists then I could mix dance and pop but it would be pain to create a playlist for that.

In addition, the OS has been greatly dumbed down. You no longer can select the playback, display, or search speeds. You can no longer change the display orientation from right-handed to left-handed. You can no longer set left or right balance. You can no longer delete files from the device unless you are connected to a PC. The display no longer shows how much time is left on a song as it now only displays elapsed time, and you can no longer display what file name.

It is unfortunate that the newer units have been dumbed down as they have lost a number of very useful capabilities. Still, I like the new unit overall and I will adjust to the differences. It's a good unit for the money and the Sandisk quality is still there--my last one lasted 3 years under heavy use (3-6 hours a day) so I can't complain. If this will be your first MP3 player you probably won't be disappointed.

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The contrast level on the display is so low no matter how one adjusts the brightness and backlight that you will have a hard time seeing what feature/song you are selecting. Its genuinely bizarre that they used a very light-blue field against a white backround. Text is black so at least you can see that clearly. Other than that, the sound is good for such a cheap player and it has a built-in equalizer to adjust the sound to your own liking. It will operate in MSC mode, which simply means that you can load music files into the player directly from the My Computer icon. No software of any sort needed at all to load songs into the player. You lose the ability to make playlists in MSC mode but personally I prefer the speed and simplicity of MSC mode. You cannot use MSC mode to play digitally-protected music. Again not an issue for me. If you are looking for a cheap mp3 player, this is worth considering.

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OK. I've seen some of the other reviews for this product, and a few people have mentioned problems with the backlighting and contrast, but I don't have that problem. I have now owned my player three weeks, and I LOVE IT!

This player has incredibly simple menus to follow, the display is adequate for most people who will only use this to listen to music. I've had no problems with the display which does a fairly good job with the photos I've loaded onto it. The song text is in black against a light blue field which makes it easy to see at all times.

Straight out of the box, my Windows XP systems instantly recognized the device and installed the appropriate drivers. I did have a problem (at first) with getting my laptop (running Vista Home Basic) to recognize the device, but I realized that this was due to the fact that I had the player set in the wrong USB mode (it needs to be in MSC mode for Vista to recognize the device) Once I changed the mode to MSC (through the player's settings menu), all of my systems recognize it every time without a single problem.

I like the fact that you can change the battery in the player quickly and easily, unlike an Ipod, and that it has an expandable Micro SD slot, which the manufacturer says you can only upgrade by 1 GB. If you buy this, go ahead and spring for the Micro SD card so that you prevent dust and dirt from getting into the slot; you'll also expand the room you have available on the player. I just received my $20.00, 2GB (that's right 2 GB) expansion card from NewEgg.com today, and again, I popped it into my player, which connects to desktop/laptops through a provided USB cable, and it was instantly recognized by my work system as a separate drive.

Other reasons to like this player is the fact that it features a voice recorder, an FM tuner, an adjustable equalizer with presets (I set mine with a custom setting which sounds better than the presets)and it lets you record FM radio. Try THAT with an Ipod... Did I mention that it will let you plays songs downloaded from the most popular services (another thing Ipod can't do), in addition to .wmv and mp3 files?

A couple of people in other reviews have mentioned investing in a new pair of earbuds, which I would agree with if you're a serious audiophile, but again, for most people, the earbuds it ships with should more than fit the bill.

The only thing this player really lacks is the storage capacity that some other players on the market have. That's ok though, because at bit rate of 128 kbps per song, you can fit up to 1,000 songs. I doubled my 2 GB capacity with the Micro SD card, giving the player a total capacity of 4 GB. Since I use only high bit rate (160 kbps and better) audio, and I have about 450 songs with plenty of room left over for my work files and photos.

If you're looking for an economical, sturdy mp3 player this is the one. The price makes this a great gift for any occasion year-round, and for the money, you're not going to find a better value anywhere else on the market.

I was hesitant about buying an MP3 player because I am relatively inept when it comes to electronic devices. After researching different MP3 players I decided to take a chance on the SanDisk because of its reasonable price plus I had read that it was compatible with Windows Media Player (WMP). I had downloaded dozens of CDs onto the WMP and now needed something small and pocket sized that was inconspicuous to use at work. My profession affords me with occasional down time so I wanted a small MP3 player with ear plugs that would help me pass the time by dusting off a few musical neural networks encoded in the 60's. First of all I was surprised at how simple transferring songs was using the WMP and the Sandisk. You first open up the WMP and once the computer recognizes the "device" you click on the icon, which allows the WMP to connect with the SanDisk. Then you can either right click on selected songs and select "add to synch" or you can right click on the CD title and add the entire contents of the CD to the sync list. The WMP shows you how much room you have left on the Sandisk after each input. Pretty simple. The real surprise occurred when I placed the ear plugs in and listened to my old archaic music. I'm not crazy about ear plugs (can't use headphones at work), but the ones that come with the player are not uncomfortable. The sound quality of the SanDisk is extremely impressive for such a small device. Although the player comes with an equalizer I did not even find it necessary to adjust the sounds. I give this product 5 stars for the musical portion of the SanDisk. I cannot comment on the other options that this product has, but I am obviously impressed enough to leave a review on this item. I should mention that the device comes with a CD that I downloaded and it appears to assist in using the other features of the SanDisk MP3 player, but as mentioned I bought the player solely for listening to music and am simply commenting on the musical portion of the SanDisk Sansa c250 MP3 player. I hope that this helps you in deciding which player to buy. I am very satisfied with this product.