BEST FOR PRICE

CREATIVE VADO £65
Creative is known for audio products, and the Vado looks like an MP3 player. Video quality is poor indoors, and even in decent light. It shouldn’t really be used with a television, and the lack of cables to connect the two confirms it. Menus are simple, as is the price, but the footage isn’t strong enough to move you away from a digital camera or mobile phone.

Verdict: Very cheap, but low-quality video makes this strictly for the internet.

www.creative.com

BEST FOR ZOOM

SANYO XACTI CG9 £175

The pistol-grip design of the Sanyo Xacti CG9 makes it comfortable to hold, and it has well laid-out buttons. The 2.5in flip-out screen is sharp and makes framing reasonably simple, and the 5x optical zoom is a boon, especially as it’s so quick to focus in and out. The CG9’s video may not be high-definition, but it is easily good enough to fill a computer monitor.

Verdict: Excellent controls, but image quality is a little low for display on bigger televisions.

sanyodigital.com

BEST FOR EASE OF USE

FLIP MINO £120

Flip’s Ultra – a low-cost camcorder optimised for online video – made a splash earlier this year. The Mino is an updated Ultra with iPod-like looks, touch-sensitive buttons and the same simple approach to video recording. Buttons are well laid out, and software to convert video into a YouTube format is on board. But the image is really only of internet quality, and start-up time was frustratingly long.

Verdict: Compact and supremely simple to use, but its video isn’t up to television playback.

www.firebox.com

BEST FOR EXTRAS

TOSHIBA CAMILEO PRO £75

This is a camcorder that also fits in MP3 playback, 7Mp stills and a motion-detecting webcam. The Pro moniker presumably applies to the numerous buttons and their complex layout, which make it too tricky for beginners. Its standard-definition video quality is decent, but not above average. The lack of built-in software means you must install a CD on your computer to be able to transfer any footage you’ve shot.

Verdict: A gadget-filled device that is really neither one thing nor the other.

tinyurl.com/5zr8g3

BEST FOR IMAGE QUALITY

KODAK ZI6 £130

The Zi6 can shoot in 720p high-definition resolution and its big size allows for a 2.4in LCD, but that’s at the cost of control buttons that are too small and a joystick that is tricky to use. However, the size makes it simple to handle, and at least the menus aren’t confusing. Image quality, while a little noisy, is good enough to display on an HD television.

Verdict:A large camcorder with fiddly buttons, but decent image quality.

www.kodak.co.uk

VIDEO ALTERNATIVES

You don’t need a camcorder to shoot video, as there are other devices that can do so, although often only to internet quality.

Mobile phonesThe best of these match budget digital cameras for quality, but can be less easy to use. LG’s KU990 Viewty can shoot slow-motion video, while the 8GB version of the Nokia N95 can store hours of video.

Digital stills camerasStills cameras capable of decent HD video are entering the market. The Fujifilm S2000HD has 15x zoom and full manual operation, while Kodak’s V1273 gives 12Mp stills and HD video with easy-to-use controls.

Prices are best found online. Matt Tuffin is deputy editor of Digital Camera Buyer