Lidl CAMCORDER €150 .. Any Good ??

mikemike

Lidl have the following camcorder coming in soon , but I can't seem to find any info as to whether or not it has optical zoom or not ..

http://www.lidl.ie/IE/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20110307.p.Water_Resistant_HD_Camcorder

My mini DV camcorder has given up the ghost and I still have stuff on tape to burn to dvd , but I'd rather buy something that takes SD cards and has less moving parts like this one in Lidl . I was led to believe that less moving parts would mean longer lifespan , longer battery life and tougher against knocks .

Has anyone bought one of these before ? and if so , any good ?

or would I be better off with this in Argos ? My max budget is about €200 .
http://www.argos.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=10152&catalogId=13352&langId=111&searchTerms=5634873&authToken=


Thanks .

DaireQuinlan

In my experience, and without even looking at the specs, nothing from LIDL or ALDI is ever any good. It's always shoddily built or makes some half hearted pretense at being something that it's not, or is just plain crap that doesn't do anything that you'd expect a comparable product to do and then breaks after a couple of months.

The food is ok though.

-edit-
Having LOOKED at the specs ,

LIDL wrote:

cmOS Sensor An active-pixel sensor (APS) is an image sensor consisting of an integrated circuit containing an array of pixel sensors, each pixel containing a photodetector and an active amplifier. The active pixel sensors cmOS APS is used most commonly in mobile phone cameras, web cameras and in some DSLRs.

So you're paying €150 for a jumped up webcam. I wouldn't bother.

Thecageyone

Waterproof up to 3m, inc salt water. Handy if you do a lot of shooting in water I guess. Otherwise, I doubt it's any good.

Zillah

Hell, I'd buy it purely for the underwater capability. 3m is a bit weird though. If it's waterproof at 1m, I wouldn't have thought there would be enough pressure at 3m to force through.

Anyway, with electronics you will almost always get what you pay for. If it's cheap, it's cheap for a reason, and you'll probably get it.

Thecageyone

I'd say it's more to do with the pressure beyond 3m. There will be a lot of heavy water above it at that. Could be fun for diving if you were heading somewhere exotic.

pete4130

Zillah wrote: »

Hell, I'd buy it purely for the underwater capability. 3m is a bit weird though. If it's waterproof at 1m, I wouldn't have thought there would be enough pressure at 3m to force through.

Anyway, with electronics you will almost always get what you pay for. If it's cheap, it's cheap for a reason, and you'll probably get it.

See, the thing is, its more than likely going to be a (guaranteed) sh1t camera (poor sensor, poor tech, poor lens, poor spec, cheap price, you get what you pay for....buy cheap, buy twice etc...). With regards to its waterproofing, the deeper you go, the more the pressure increases, the more the pressure increases, the tighter the seals get (until they give in).

I've gone scuba diving to 7-12m with an old Canon A1 sureshot waterproof rated at 3m and had no problems whatsoever. It didn't even enter my head about the depth. I'd still say it would be good at 25m.

End of the day, a €150 camcorder thats waterproof isn't going to produce results form a HD camera, let alone a hi-8. You get what you pay for.

magicbastarder

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

In my experience, and without even looking at the specs, nothing from LIDL or ALDI is ever any good. It's always shoddily built or makes some half hearted pretense at being something that it's not, or is just plain crap that doesn't do anything that you'd expect a comparable product to do and then breaks after a couple of months.

what he said. some tools i've bought in there were laughably bad.
they generally depend on impulse purchases and can offer no support - if it breaks, you'll be lucky if they have a spare one they can swap out, given the limited shelf life, and you're looking at a refund then.

i have a black and decker angle grinder. black and decker are not the best name in tools, but it's lasted eight or nine years and has had hours of use. a friend bought a similar angle grinder in lidl or aldi, and it lasted less than five minutes.

jpb1974

a friend bought a similar angle grinder in lidl or aldi, and it lasted less than five minutes.

I just want to point out that my Aldi angle grinder is the dog's bollix and has ripped through many a length of iron in it's day.

I won't have anyone say a bad word about it.

sunny2004

Would the op not go for the angle grinder instead ?

magicbastarder

jpb got the last one in the shop.

michaelotoole

I've got one... it's actually pretty good...

DaireQuinlan

michaelotoole wrote: »

I've got one... it's actually pretty good...

But got WHAT ?? An angle grinder ? A cheap water proof camcorder ? A chain of budget shops ??!? PEOPLE FROM 2011 HAVE TO KNOW !

michaelotoole

As the topic in the post indicates... "Lidl camcorder"