Sony Handycam DCR-HC26E Mini DV Camcorder

Don't waste your money on this camcorder. My husband and I bought it for ourselves for Christmas in 2006 since we had a new baby. By Memorial Day of 2007 it was no longer working. We only filled up one tape, so although we used the camcorder for 5 months, we only recorded a total of 30 minutes of video before it broke. We recorded some footage of our daughter over Memorial Day weekend and went to play back the video and the LCD screen just went blank. Without the LCD screen, you can't access the menu. We attempted to reset the camcorder and even visited Sony's website to troubleshoot the problem. None of their suggestions worked. When we called Sony about the problem, they told us that since the 90-day warranty was over, that we could send the camcorder to them, at our expense, of course, and pay a MINIMUM of $129 in labor charges for them to fix it. Umm... no thanks Sony! We won't be paying more than half of what the camcorder was originally worth to send it in and have it fixed only to hope the problem doesn't happen again. I think we'll just cut our losses. Better yet, we won't be purchasing anything made by Sony ever again. It's just completely ridiculous for this to have happened to a brand new camcorder that is only 5 months old and has only recorded a total of 30 minutes of tape! We were always very careful with the camcorder and always kept it in the case when it wasn't in use.

I would suggest that if you are dead set on getting this camcorder that you purchase the extended warranty - I wish we would have.