Aiptek Pocket IS-DV2 Camcorder

It takes decent pictures compared to a 1.3 MP still camera. The video is jerky because it is only 10 fps, but I still like it. It takes good pictures under fluorescent light in situations where a film camera would not get anything. The LCD screen is not very good and is only usable in bright light conditions. If you transfer the videos to a VCR (easy to do) the elapsed time and battery level indicator show up on the tape. But it you copy the video files to a computer (Pentium minimum--doesn't work on a 486 or 586) there are no indicators visible. The batteries last long enough for me (I generally use 1600Mh NiMh cells). I bought a 128MB CF card and it will take about 25 minutes of video (with sound) or more still pictures than I've ever needed to take at one time. The little wheel switch that changes mode is a bit tricky to use. All in all it's a fun, useful camera and I think is well worth the $96 I paid for it. One really nice feature is that my computer (Win 98SE or above) sees it as a removable storage device so the camera can also be used to store or transfer large files from one computer to another. All I have to do is attach the USB cable and the computer sees the camera is just a couple of seconds. The rest is just copying files. I do not care much for the software that came with it. Except maybe the webcam program.