JVC GR-DA30 Mini DV, DV Camcorder
- Recording System: NTSC
- Camcorder Type: Digital
- Recording Media: Mini DV DV
- Optical Zoom: 30x
- Weight: 0.85 lb.
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Awful product, plus horrible customer service/warranty service
Pros
Cost of camera ($140) seemed reasonable
Cons
video quality, durablity customer service, warranty service
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
I had awful experience. Broke after 10 months, not cost effective to fix. Waste of time and money.
I purchased the camera October of 2009 for $140 and it lasted me 10 before becoming unusable. Several buttons on the camera completely stopped working, including the Record button.
This was a disappointing development, but I wasn't completely discourage knowing that the camera was still covered under its 1-year warranty plan. I sent the camera to the JVC service center. After several weeks, I was told the camera would require $110 worth of work to correct the malfunction. I was irate, since I thought the camera was covered under warranty. Do not be fooled though -- that only covered parts, not labor. I told them I couldn't afford that -- they offered to go down on the price a little. I couldn't believe they were trying to negotiate the price of a repair. I felt like I was buying a used car since I was getting shaken down by a JVC camera repairman.
Since this repair cost was close to the original camera cost, I declined the repair and requested the camera be sent back. The service center wanted $50 evaluation fee plus shipping charges to send the camera back. In the end, I had them scrap the camera because every option wasn't cost effective.
To sum up, the camera was of very poor quality. Even when it did operate, the video quality wasn't that great. When filiming in darker conditions, the video output was barely viewable. Customer service and warranty service -- just downright awful --couldn't be worse. Do yourself a favor and spend more on a Sony or something. Mini-dv will be obsolete soon anyways. Get a more advanced form of media. Stay away from this camera, and maybe even JVC in general. I know I will in the future.
This was a disappointing development, but I wasn't completely discourage knowing that the camera was still covered under its 1-year warranty plan. I sent the camera to the JVC service center. After several weeks, I was told the camera would require $110 worth of work to correct the malfunction. I was irate, since I thought the camera was covered under warranty. Do not be fooled though -- that only covered parts, not labor. I told them I couldn't afford that -- they offered to go down on the price a little. I couldn't believe they were trying to negotiate the price of a repair. I felt like I was buying a used car since I was getting shaken down by a JVC camera repairman.
Since this repair cost was close to the original camera cost, I declined the repair and requested the camera be sent back. The service center wanted $50 evaluation fee plus shipping charges to send the camera back. In the end, I had them scrap the camera because every option wasn't cost effective.
To sum up, the camera was of very poor quality. Even when it did operate, the video quality wasn't that great. When filiming in darker conditions, the video output was barely viewable. Customer service and warranty service -- just downright awful --couldn't be worse. Do yourself a favor and spend more on a Sony or something. Mini-dv will be obsolete soon anyways. Get a more advanced form of media. Stay away from this camera, and maybe even JVC in general. I know I will in the future.
