I read the reviews before buying this camera. We have switched from Canon's mini DV product and for the price this camera is really worth it. I really didn't want to pay $500-$700 for HD quality. It's extremely compact (amazing how small these things have gotten!) and functional, right out of the box. The battery life is excellent. I love how it stores video on a removable card instead of tapes and I can quickly go through any video clip on the camera and delete scenes that I don't need right away or after a while. Connecting to a TV to watch is quick and easy. I didn't rate it 5 stars because the internal quality was a little dark and I found the video montage software to have no "educational quality" for a new user with very few help words or buttons. generally intuitive if you don't know what you're doing. All trial and error for me. Overall this is a great camera and I am very happy with my purchase.