This camcorder works as advertised. It's tiny so it's shaky, but with a tripod I can get a convincing video of birds, my main goal. The small glass limits the resolution but does a good job with what it has. I wouldn't bother with any "zoom" other than optical 10x as the pixelation is annoying. The lens cover closes reluctantly but opens quickly. I could arrange the recording buttons differently, but I can get used to that. It seems to sort my videos in a logical order.