The CX100 is a good little HD camcorder. The user interface could be a bit simpler. The HD video quality is very good. The camera is small and light, but difficult to hold still (not the camera's fault). The slow motion function is fine, but the lighting needs to be very bright; average lighting is not suitable. Slow motion is very slow, which is nice; looks very cool. And in slow motion it only writes about 5 seconds at a time and then takes about 15 seconds to write to memory. The included battery may last a bit longer; I thought it would take a little longer considering there are no moving parts other than the lens. It's small and light. I find the sound quality excellent. You need to buy editing software on your computer, the included software can be imported to your computer, the purchase can not edit. So make time to compare, buy, and learn how to edit on your computer. My friend has a Canon HD camcorder and loves it too. This Sony has a LANC port which most people don't need but I would like it to control parachute videos. For extreme sports also check out the Gopro Hero HD, I've heard and seen a lot of good things about it (except that the included mounts could be better).