List Price: $319.99
Sale Price: $245.99
Today's Bonus: 23% Off
I've had this model for about 6 months now, so I've used it enough to give an informed opinion by this point. I bought this only to capture memories of our kids growing up. I did not buy this for extensive or special editing, special effects, etc. I just wanted something that is good quality, is 1080 HD, etc. where I can watch our kids growing up and capturing memories. I am pleased with this camcorder, and offer a few comments for those considering this model:
1) I have no complaints about picture quality it works well for what I need, under indoor and outdoor conditions.
2) Very easy to use open the screen and it comes on and boots up quickly.
3) It's very light compared to my older Sony Handycam (which used tapes). Sometimes I think too light and somewhat cheap feeling, but everything has gotten so small now, I guess that is the way of things particularly in this price range.
4) I selected this model because I did NOT want internal flash memory like the next model up (the 210). If the internal memory were to go bad in time, I would rather it be a card that I can throw away rather than having something go bad inside the camera. I can always get a new card. The next model down (the 190) does not have the touchscreen input, nor the spot-focus, nor the HDMI cable to connect to your HDTV.
5) VERY IMPORTANT Sony (and some other manufacturs too I think) have what is called "Direct Copy". What this means is that I can connect my portable 1 TB hard drive straight to the camcorder, and not need a computer. I can then access all the videos on the hard drive in full HD and connect the camcorder straight to our HDTV with the HDMI cable. So over time, you can use the portable hard drive to store the videos, and use the camcorder to access them and play them on the HDTV using the camcorder software. I cannot stress how important this is, at least to me, because this solves the storage issue and eliminates the need for a computer or laptop in-between, and not having to use special software, etc.
Not all hard drives will work. I use a 1 TB Western Digital My Passport, USB 3.0 Western Digital My Passport 1 TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive WDBBEP0010BSL-NESN (Silver). Also, you must use the Sony cable VMCUAM1 Sony VMCUAM1 USB Adapter Cable to connect the USB cable to the hard drive. If you don't use the Sony cable it won't work, even though the ends may fit properly.
I have a 32GB card, which good for about 6 months give or take. What I do is transfer the videos to the hard drive, and then back up the hard drive using our network storage.
Anyway, I don't mean to get too wordy about this but this really is a big deal and I think it should be noted. Not having to have a computer is a big deal, IMO. As long as you don't max-out your memory card it doesn't matter, but once you have too may videos for the card to store, that is when this matters the most.
Note that two other reviews here talk about the built-in projector. The CX200 does NOT have this feature.
I would certainly recommend this, and I would purchase this again.
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