Electronics Gadget Reviews

Canon 2590B002 CG 800 Lithium Ion Battery Charger for 800 Series Batteries

Charges Li-Ion Battery 800 Series: BP-808, BP-809(S), BP-809(B) and BP-819. Plugs directly into a power outlet without a cable. Compatible Canon Camcorders: Vixia HF10, Vixia HF100, FS11, FS10 and FS100 Camcorders

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars It’s a battery charger…
It does what it’s supposed to do, it charges Canon BP series batteries. I have tried this with 3 different batteries (BP-807, BP-808, BP-819) and all charge fine. A must have item, if you plan on properly maintaining your batteries. Beware of imitations that don’t contain the appropriate charging circuitry.

5 Stars A must have!!!
The battery that comes with the Canon HG20 is okay. This battery does give me a lot more hours to play with. The only thing that I don’t like is that it is a bit expensive. If you are going on a vacation or something like that then I do recommend getting this battery since it holds more power for longer recording time.

5 Stars Canon battery charger quick and efficient
The charger was compact, easy to transport, and quickly recharged the larger battery pack purchased to go with the Canon Vixia HG20.

5 Stars Works Great
This charger plugs right into the wall with the battery pack attached – so there are no wires or long cords to deal with. Great product & easy to use.

5 Stars Slick
Works as advertised. I use it when I am taping my son’s Ultimate Frisbee games. I can plug it into my car inverter and charge a battery while I am using another. It is compact and the plug folds away…no cords to mess with. The battery snaps into place in the charger…plug it in and wait for the light to change color on the charger…done. Very happy with it.

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Lenmar DLSAL20 Lithium ion Digital Camera Camcorder Battery Equivelent to the Sony DB L20 Battery

PRODUCT FEATURES:Fits selected camerasReplaces DB-L20Lithium Ion

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Works
Takes a charge, works in device – how long the power lasts remains to be seen, but at the price if it approximates 75% of the OEM battery I’ll be satisfied.

4 Stars Works!
Well, what can I say, it works! Don’t know whether it’s better, the same, or worse than the stock battery. I just alternated the batteries each day and then used the camera. One didn’t seem better than the other. In fact, to be honest, unless you do a TON of diving and recording I’m not 100% sure you’ll even need the extra battery. I shot a LOT of underwater video and never got the “low battery” message. But I guess it’s not a bad idea to be prepared.

5 Stars It works the same as the original Sanyo battery
I made a 2 1/2 hours non stop video taping yesterday, the original Sanyo battery low signal came out around 55 minutes, and die around 75 minutes. this battery came out around 55 minutes after I put it into my Sanyo Xacti camera, die around 75 minutes too.

5 Stars good backup battery
I bought this for a Sanyo Xacti E2. I haven’t done any rigid testing to compare against the original Sanyo battery’s life, but I also didn’t notice any difference in battery life while using it. Highly recommended as a solid backup battery.

4 Stars Fits VPC-e2!
I’ve bought a few DB-L20 “compatible” batteries to work with my xacti vpc-e2. NONE of them worked. They were all slightly too large and became lodged in my camera. It took pliers to remove them!

So when I saw this battery I was skeptical becuse it doesn’t flat out say that it is compatible with the vpc-e2. I saw a review that said it works with it, so I thought I would give it a try…

It fits! So if you own a vpc-e2 and don’t want to spend $40 for an official sanyo battery, i recommend it! It actually slides in and out better than the stock battery. I haven’t checked how long it holds a charge yet, so I can’t comment on that. I’m just happy I found a battery that fits!

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Canon 2591B002 DM 100 Directional Stereo Microphone for HF HG Series Camcorders

DM-100 Directional Stereo Microphone for the VIXIA HF10 and VIXIA HF100 Camcorders. Compatible with the: VIXIA HF S10 Dual Flash Memory, VIXIA HF20 Dual Flash Memory, VIXIA HF100 Flash Memory, VIXIA HG20 Hard Disk Drive

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars This thing is huge
functionally this work well , but the size of it is huge its as big as the camera and just about needs a seperate case to carry it in

5 Stars GREAT Mic for Cheap Indie Filmmakers!
I’ve only had this mic for a little under a month and have been completely satisfied by my purchase. The sound quality (compared to the built-in mic) is unparalleled and the fuzzy “dead cat” wind sock eliminates any wind rumble that has previously plagued productions. The ultimate test that I have done thus far has been recording in a moving car going down the highway with the windows rolled down and music blaring. The recording came out clear and concise. In all, I would recommend this mic to anyone who has a tight wallet and needs a good mic for the money.

3 Stars This is supposed to be better than the built in?
Okay, so, I know that once again, I am buying the cheapest product and getting frustrated, so let me start out with that. I bought this in hopes that I could take my video camera to our church camp this year and record the kids for a video for our camp. I’ve done some experimenting with it on our local sports field during some of our church extracurricular activities (ultimate frisbee and football). I think the only thing I can really say is that the microphone does help offset wind noise when used, but aside from that, I can’t say I’m much impressed by the quality of the recorded sound. I will say that I am pretty much an amateur at this and will probably experiment more to see if I can get any better performance, but my hopes are not high. Wind noise is still there, audio quality is nothing to write home about, and even in shotgun mode I still get a lot of ambient background noise from around the target. Overall, I’m not impressed, but it IS better than the built-in mike … a little.

5 Stars Canon DM-100 Microphone does block the wind plus….
This Canon DM-100 Microphone does block wind noise and it’s directional feature works well, too. I’ve found it works best in the camera’s “EASY” shooting mode. Overall, I’d say it exceeds my expectations. Didn’t notice any reduction in sound quality. It may even be somewhat better. Expensive, but since I couldn’t find or make a wind screen to just fit over the camera’s built-in mic, I’m pleased with it. Very happy to get rid of that wind noise. Plus, I perceive a reduction in the volume of the camerman’s recorded voice when coming from the area behind the camera, which, to me, seems to be too loud when using the built-in mic. Probably, due to the effect of the ’shotgun’ mode.? Overpriced, probably, but I bit the bullet on this one.

5 Stars So much better than I thought
The sound quality of this mike for all purposes is so much better than the built in mike I use it all the time. There is good suppression of noises to the side and back but if someone is talking right behind you it will still drown out the people you really want to hear in front. The wind suppression is good.

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Kodak Zx1 HD Pocket Video Camera Blue

Adventure can strike at any moment. Capture it in HD with the KODAK Zx1 Pocket Video Camera. Built to take on rain and snow, bright light and low light, this camera is ready for action. Now, no matter where life leads you, recording it all in stunning HD quality is as close as your front pocket. Get great videos in bright light or low light – whether you’re at the beach, a party, anywhere Capture crisp, clear audio with the sensitive, low distortion microphone so you can relive your moments to the fullest intensity You’re the director Choose the video quality that works for you – HD at 60 fps, HD at 30 fps or VGA See it all on the vibrant 2.0 in. LCD screen Catch the highlights with slow motion playback right in the palm of your hand, fast forward and rewind, even frame by frame Who needs Hollywood? Upload your videos to YouTube? quickly and easily using the built-in software and included USB cable Experience your videos on an HDTV in stunning quality with the included HDMI cable Make it your own with great video software Rich video editing software is built into the Zx1 – just connect the camera to any computer to install it and enjoy all the great features Edit, trim, splice and enhance videos, Add pictures and music to your videos to make cool mash-ups Email your creations or upload to YouTube – right from the software Save the planet – one battery at a time Save money and help the environment with included pre-charged AA Ni-MH rechargeable batteries and battery charger Sensor type – 1 / 4.5 type 1.6 MP CMOS Lens – 4.1 mm, f/2.8, fixed focus Display – 2.0 LCD Storage – 128 MB internal memory, SD/SDHC card expansion slot Video capture – H.264 (MOV), AAC LC; Video quality – HD60 – 720p at 60 fps (16 – 9), HD – 720p at 30 fps (16 – 9) (default), VGA – 640 480 (4 – 3) Still format – JPEG, Picture quality

User Ratings and Reviews

2 Stars DO NOT buy this video camera
DO NOT buy the Zx1. Kodak advertises remote control as one of the selling features. They LIE! There is no such thing available either in the Lodak stores or at retailers. FALSE ADVERTISING and pretty crappy customer service when I asked about how to get the ADVERTISED remote. I no longer trust Kodak and will likely return this camera since the remote control was an important feature to me.

5 Stars Kodak Zx1
This camera is amazing. The video quality is amazing and the weather proof body is amazing. Took videos at the beach that were amazing without having to worry about ruining my full size video camera.

Camera fits in your pocket & the controls are EASY! Read a lot of criticism about not having a built in USD port (W/o using a cable) but found it easier and faster to simply insert the SD card into my laptop.

Do not hesitate purchasing this product…

5 Stars A best buy
For starters Amazon delivers on their promise of a 3-day delivery. This is a company you can count on.

The Zx1 is right on target. Right out of the box it does exactly what you would expect from a small pocket video camera – decent quality and simple operation. Even indoors the quality was acceptable – which is more than you can say about most cameras in this class.

This is clearly a second-generation pocket video camera – with improved controls and support for large capacity SD cards. The AA batteries are just what you need to make sure you will never run out. I was surprised to see that a charger was included.

My big concern about buying a Flash Drive HD camera was the issue of file format. This is a thorny issue with all HD video cameras. I could care lass about HD – I just wanted decent quality and the ability to edit video.

The plan is simple – archive the ‘HD’ content and keep it for future editing when software and hardware are readily available. And meanwhile

convert the files to AVI or another usable DVD formtat for immediate use.

The supplied ArcSoft program does primitive conversion of the 720p format to 640 DVD format – but in Quicktime – which Windows Media player version 9 still refuses to recognize in Windows XP ( I hate Vista)

There are many third party programs which do a better job of conversion – the one I use is AVS Video Converter 6. It took the raw MOV file from the SD card and converted it to AVI format with the 720 lines preserved and good sound quality. As with all such conversions it is slow but the quality is excellent. This is not a trivial conversion. Of course AVS will convert it to any of a dozen other formats – some with smaller file size – but none with higher quality.

Since this camera is so new, the Kodak web site has very limited documentation for the Zx1. They avoid entirely the issue of file formats and that is because it is a thorny issue. Along these lines I should mention that without loading any software, you can slip the SD card in your computer slot and you will get a MOV file. It comes up as a Quicktime file. My version of Quicktime played the movie O.K but there was no sound. I’m sure an update is available – but it may not be free.

Of course my Quicktime player did play the MOV file after it was converted by ArcSoft.

Hey for $150 – this is a great buy and it seems to be durable also.

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Shure E2c Sound Isolating Earphones

Shure’s E2c in-ear headphones are tiny, lightweight, and designed to sonically outperform most ear-bud-style headphones. The E2c’s unique, relatively affordable design comes from Shure’s years of collaborating with professional musicians. With high-energy drivers in distinctive enclosures, the E2c produces high-quality sound with excellent isolation from background noise.

The E2c’s speakers are constructed with studio-grade components, producing exceptional audio clarity. Their in-ear design, using supplied flex sleeves, naturally blocks background noise. This permits lower listening volumes in loud environments–critical in safeguarding your hearing during performance or other activities. No batteries or extra equipment are needed for sound isolation.

Because every ear is different, E2c earphones come with 3 pairs (small, medium, large) of flex sleeves and 3 pairs (small, medium, large) ultra-soft flex sleeves to ensure a personalized fit. These disposable foam sleeves gently compress to fit in the ear canal. Once in the ear, the foam expands to form a tight seal. Once tightly sealed, the sleeves hold the earphones firmly in place.

The E2c’s cables pass behind the ear–out of sight and out of the way for comfort and discretion. Weighing only 1 ounce, the E2c is lightweight and comfortable enough for any portable listening application. The set comes with a soft, stylish, compact, and zippered carrying case, which allows for an easy, tangle-free way to store your earphones.

What’s in the Box
Earphones, 2 triple-flange sleeves, 3 pairs (small, medium, large) of flex sleeves, and 3 pairs (small, medium, large) ultra-soft flex sleeves (kit 90XC1371, with cleaning tool), a soft carry case (80B8232), a user’s manual, and warranty information.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars In one Ear…
I read about these guys on either ilounge or CNET and went for it. They are pretty solid…good bass if you are concerened about that…nice high…a bit rough in the middle ranges. Great for the money. I hear Klipsch has a new set of cans that are better than these and I may spring for those too. No bells and whistles here…just meat and potatoes…but meat and potatoes that are dependable and workhorse.

1 Star Expected a more durable product
At this price point I expected a durable ,well engineered product. within a month of use I started noticing small cracks in the wires near the earpieces .I figured it would be OK,they’re thick wires. It’s not OK ,they broke after 2 yrs. of lite use.I read thru some reviews, there seems to be a lot of consumers reporting same issue. Shure offers a repair service, but I can buy a better set of in-ear buds for substantially less than the repair will cost…. the Altec Lansing UHP336 Snugfit In-ear Earphone (which have user replaceable cords)

3 Stars Continuous problems, only lasted 6 months
Not too much to say. The earbuds just didn’t hold up for long, making the price not worth it. They’re a very high-maintenance item, and the sound quality wasn’t as good as I was led to believe, anyway. I’m going back to using budget-priced earbuds for casual on-the-go listening.

5 Stars Wonderful Earpieces!
Got here fast.

Sound quality is amazing, on all ends (high, low, in between).

Ear fit is perfect, plus includes plenty of sleeves to match anyone’s ear of preference.

Cord is tough, connections are high quality, gold plated.

Packaging is innovative and has great design.

Effectively blocks out 90% of outside noise, making audio experience MUCH better.

I couldn’t be more pleased with these earphones, buy them!

As I listened to them in the car with 6 other people, I saw them talking but couldn’t hear a word. The only thing other than my crystal-clear, perfect sounding music that I heard was the low hum of the car between songs. They were literally laughing and conversing, playing music, and it didn’t bother me at all. Listening to Coldplay at a high bitrate on these phones is absolutely amazing, you REALLY DO hear things in songs you never heard before with lesser-quality earphones. These are perfect for the low-budget audiophile, and any listener who appreciates sound quality,like me.

BUY THEM!

5 Stars good product, first pair ran over by car.
The good thing about these headphones, is as a runner, most headphones fall out when running, these stay and the noise cancelling is excellent.

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