Budget camcorders: Cheap thrill or pointless expense?

Don’t get us wrong, we’re big bargain fans. But there’s a huge difference between slapping down your hard earned for a great product at a knock down price, and spending on a purpose built “budget” option, that’s definitely cheap, but not necessarily cheerful.

It’s a question that’s raised with particular urgency this week. Wired have uncovered a leak from Creative over its newest digital camcorder. Dubbed the Vado, it’s a $100 (£50) camera with direct upload to YouTube or Photobucket, a VGA sensor and 2GB of memory built in.

So what’s our beef? It’s pointless - that’s what. Buying a VGA camcorder nowadays is the equivalent of buying platform shoes and wearing them down the local disco. You’ll regret it within minutes, and the results will be hideous and outdated.

To put it in perspective, a cameraphone with autofocus and 3.2 megapixels will outperform Creative’s new camcorder, while 5 megapixel phones like the N95 and forthcoming N96 will blow it clean out of the water.

What’s more, for just £150, you could grab a camcorder that shoots in HD quality, roughly four times that of Creative’s offering, for just three times the money.

According to a premature listing at American retailer JR.com is Creative’s Vado has almost the same specs as the Pure Flip, a budget camcorder with, according to Wired, a massive 13% share of the market.

But would you sacrifice quality in order to save a few quid? We’re of the opinion that, when we’re recording our memories, we want them in the best quality possible, but that doesn’t need to cost a lot.

Have we got it right? Are we missing the point? Let us know in the comments section

below.TBC | £TBC

Creative (via Wired)

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