Off on a holiday that’s likely to involve spending inordinate amounts of time splashing about in the surf or doing hardcore gubbins like water-skiing? Then you’re going to need a waterproof camcorder to prove to your pals you’ve got those extreme sports skills you keep bragging about. The Sanyo Xacti VPC-WH1 wants to be top dog in the water, but is it worth handing over your hard earned for? Read our Sanyo Xacti VPC-WH1 review and we’ll reveal all.
The Sanyo Xacti VPC-WH1 is built to withstand taking a pasting from water, whether it’s fresh or salty. You can take it down three metres and it’ll still keep coming back for more. Rather than free dive to within an inch of our lives, we took a few pics on a wet, windy, blustery day on the beach, while giving it a dunking at home. It survived intact, and the results were impressive.
In terms of the camcorder, the 720p HD ready movies on the Sanyo Xacti VPC-WH1 look ace for such a bargain, feature-focused gadget. Shots in both watery and dry surroundings look crisp and clear and are enhanced by the inclusion of a 30x optical zoom, which gives you tight, detailed pictures every time.
Read our Veho Muvi Micro DV camcorder review now
That said, the inclusion of a 1500x digital zoom on the Sanyo Xacti VPC-WH1 left us a tad baffled. It’s a massive gimmick and after a couple of tries you’ll quickly discover it’s utterly needless, a case of a feature being added to grab headlines.
Away from such silliness, the Sanyo Xacti VPC-WH1 has ample file support, churning out flicks in MP4 which you can either add to your iMovie on your Mac, or edit using the bundled free editing software on your PC. Unsurprisingly, this is a tad shonky, so we’d suggest using a separate programme if you can.
Elsewhere though, the Sanyo Xacti VPC-WH1 suffers. The stills camera is a measly two megapixels, which at a time when snappers on phones are getting better and better, is just not good enough. However, we’re willing to cut it some slack seeing as this is a device aimed at non-land lubbers intent on getting high octane watersports shots. If that’s you, you could do a lot worse than nabbing a Sanyo Xacti VPC-WH1. If you want a straight up regular cammie, then perhaps look around for something more basic.
