I believe this is the same camera over at Amazon.

$80 over there, with middling reviews (32 4 & 5-star, 21 1 & 2-star).

product video, manuals, and other fancy stuff.

http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/HMX-W200RN/XAA

Here are some mixed reviews.

Here is a video from youtube from Joshua Kingdom

Here is the top comment:
"Dude this is so interesting with his monotone voice... [bleep] COMMERCIAL"

I've actually heard really good things about this camcorder. It's not a bad deal for the price.

Here's an action video:

I've been on that same river and it claimed one of the shockproof/waterproof Casio Exilim cameras.

You think it's worth it for 40 bucks? You got a 90 days warranty too.

I got 3 of these last time round (for $10 more each, darnit) to shoot multi-angle videos. I've been very happy with them thus far! They start-up really quickly (2-3 secs), have a standard tripod screw mount and I'm happier with their indoor color performance than my 3CCD JVC Evario (2009-ish model).

Shooting photos isn't as convenient (it defaults to video, and the camera button seems to have a bit of a delay), but that is my only gripe so far. Heck, I might just get a few more to add to the angles!

Any info on what storage it COMES with? I see that it can go up to 32gb but that doesn't tell me what it HAS standard. Also, can it charge with the micro usb? Thanks fellow

I also got one of these, and it's lots of fun at the pool and the lake. I couldn't believe the price for being waterproof, and it hasn't disappointed. Start times are fast, and it's fun for videos underwater or jumping into the water. Indoor video was okay, but not the strength. If only it would teach my kids that they have to watch the lcd to see what they are recording, and hold the screen relatively still. I found the price great, even when I paid $50.

teejgeig wrote:Any info on what storage it COMES with? I see that it can go up to 32gb but that doesn't tell me what it HAS standard. Also, can it charge with the micro usb? Thanks fellow

I don't think there is any built in storage--I use mine only with a micro SD card. It does charge via the full size USB. There is no micro USB.

timothyw wrote:I don't think there is any built in storage--I use mine only with a micro SD card. It does charge via the full size USB. There is no micro USB.

I got an 8gb card in one of my three by mistake! But no, nothing is supposed to come with these ;)

I bought one @ $49. I like it better than the FlipVideo I have. I recorded a one-hour lecture this past week. Excellent sound and video for being in a lecture hall. I am sold on Samsung products.

How is the running time? Like on full battery and 32 gb how long will you be able to capture? Till the battery runs out or till the memory runs out, thats always the question.

I have one that I use daily for underwater footage. Works great. Clear images above and below water. It doesn't like/adjust quickly to back light, but its a minor annoyance.
Battery life is awesome. I didn't fully charge it at the end of the season, picked it up last week and it was still juiced and ready to go.
You really can drop it from head height and it just keeps going.
I only charge it through usb. Not through micro.
It even takes pretty decent stills.

Best part is, I take the video, use the usb to plug into the tablet, and withing 30 seconds, I am reviewing the video with an athlete.

Limited underwater use

I bought one of these and it has limited underwater use, like 2 times. The first time I used it it did well for about 5 minutes of shallow swimming. Then, it died. A week in the sun finally dried all the water out. (It's hard to get water out of a "sealed" device). I charged it and it ran with some lines showing on the screen, but not on the video it captured.

The second time, I took it snorkeling in saltwater. It captured for about 15 minutes. It's never recovered. The charging light will come on, but it will not boot.

While it worked, it took excellent video. For a regular, compact video camera, it was as good as my Flip. But, the water use is limited.

Man if this thing just did not have an internal battery. I hate that because it is very nice and convenient if you can have a spare already charged for back-up. Have to pass because of that.

Hi,

I just went in for one, but can any one of you that already have one tell me how much recording can you do on a single charge? 2hr, 3hr...? I have a spare 32gb micro SD that I plan to use in this and was wondering about recording time and length based on this.

Thanks

bmrbill wrote:Here are some mixed reviews.

Some poor reviews from amateurs need to be taken with a grain of salt. It is amazing the expectations some have when it comes to cheap little still cameras and video cameras. Some think that "digital" equals "magic."

It's a handy lil camcorder

Pros

Main reason I went in for one was because of the manufacturer - I had very good battery reliability and performance on all my Samsung equipment (Monitors, Tablets, phones, TV's, SC-D27 Mini DV Camcorder from 2003 still working great). Hope this one stays on this trend.

I assume the battery is not replaceable by the consumer?

Bought one when it originally surfaced on woot. Overall great camera for an everyday take around. Never had a problem in the water, just make sure it dries fully before opening the panels. Beware of heavy exposure to sand/dirt. I have taken this camera to the beach a number of times and after a while the sand caused buttons to not function (I lost it in the ocean and found it 45 min later). It's cheap enough, and durable enough...I am back in for 2 more.

gusvonpooch wrote:I assume the battery is not replaceable by the consumer?

correct - cannot access the battery. (Opening the case as it's water tight isn't easy)

hmm, if i order it today, will it arrive by friday? it would be great to use on trip starting on Sat. (im in atlanta, ga)

to0w1r3d wrote:correct - cannot access the battery. (Opening the case as it's water tight isn't easy)

Thanks,that's too bad. Still tempted but the 90 day warranty concerns me as well. I don't see a Square Trade offer on this either.

I've got two of these. I'm a little bit of a fanatic with pocket camcorders (I've got about a dozen) and this is my favorite. Outside the videos are clear and bright. I like to use it for concert shoots. The sound is great, and while it's not perfect, the lowlight is pretty damn good for a $40 camera. This was shot in fairly low light: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sQiRVAEAJc

I've had great luck with the one I Woot!'ed last time. Held up in the "Lazy River" at Atlantis (which is NOT all that "lazy" it turns out!). Took it snorkeling in salt water without any leakage. The sound capture does suffer if the microphone opening has water covering it but I guess that's a matter of physics not really a fault of the device.

I've had great luck with battery life. The fact that it's a non-user-replaceable battery hasn't been an issue since it goes so long on a single charge.

For $40 you kinda can't go wrong...

For the price, a great deal. Had one, paid over 100, returned it, got a Kodak for half the price. Now this one is less expensive than the Kodak and you can't go wrong with Samsung. Tax, shipping and less then 50 bucks? You cant go wrong - in for one.

I bought one of these last time around. My power button became very hard to push until the point that I was unable to turn it off one day when I was using it. It also would get quite hot when in use. I called and talked to somebody for about a half-hour and they stated they would send an email to start the return for warranty process. It never came. I called again and got the same person on the phone. She had no record of my call. It did get worked out and I am using it again and the power button is working fine. I have used it for family things, concerts, fishing, etc. It also doesn't get as hot as before.

ckinsella wrote:
Cons

No optical zoom

In the specs it says it has 3x digital optical zoom. If it doesn't have zoom that is the one thing that is keeping me from pulling the trigger. Can someone clarify if it does or does not have zoom capability?

Recording times from manual:



and no to Optical zoom, but it does have 3x Digital zoom.

treemonkey wrote:In the specs it says it has 3x digital optical zoom. If it doesn't have zoom that is the one thing that is keeping me from pulling the trigger. Can someone clarify if it does or does not have zoom capability?

The specs say 3X digital zoom.

Digital zoom and opitcal zoom are two VERY different things.

On most normal cameras (not camcorders), the lens would extend, and you'd get as good of a picture zoomed in as you would not zoomed in. This is optical zoom.

On a camcorder like this, when you zoom in, you're actually lowering the megapixels you're capturing. So it's equivalent to taking the picture with no zoom, then getting on your computer and zooming in on it. This is digital zoom.

This device only has digital zoom, which is less desirable.

socks.mark wrote:This device only has digital zoom, which is less desirable.

Thank you!

There is a firmware update from 2011 on the Samsung site. Does anyone know if this one needs it?

Got this in a past offering from woot. It provided great video when we launched it up in a weather balloon package.

Very easy to use and good video made this a great purchase for what we used it for!

It doesn't appear to come with an AC cable or USB cable, and all charging comes through the built in USB. I have a desktop iMac, and this seems like it would be a pain given the location of the USB ports on my machine. Anyone have an opinion on plugging into an iMac, both for power and transferring video?

koonced wrote:Limited underwater use

I bought one of these and it has limited underwater use, like 2 times. The first time I used it it did well for about 5 minutes of shallow swimming. Then, it died. A week in the sun finally dried all the water out. (It's hard to get water out of a "sealed" device). I charged it and it ran with some lines showing on the screen, but not on the video it captured.

The second time, I took it snorkeling in saltwater. It captured for about 15 minutes. It's never recovered. The charging light will come on, but it will not boot.

While it worked, it took excellent video. For a regular, compact video camera, it was as good as my Flip. But, the water use is limited.

I would second this warning. My wife and I took this to St. John with us snorkeling. The first couple days it worked ok. Then, in the middle of the week, water must have made its way into the device and it died. It never recovered. I would use this underwater as little as possible.

What? No flash? No light?

charliecarroll wrote:Man if this thing just did not have an internal battery. I hate that because it is very nice and convenient if you can have a spare already charged for back-up. Have to pass because of that.

The more removable things you have, the more openings are needed and the more seals can fail.