Sharp VL-Z1U

Pros: Cheap Light Easy to work Reasonable Sound

Cons: Poor image quality Battery Life / low No touch screen Fiddly Controls

Review: Image Quality: Reasonable/Low, due to It's 1 680K CCD, and consumer quality lense Sound Quality: Suprising good for such a small cheap cam, 16 bit it optional, bulit in mic, no mic plug-in im afraid Very easy to run, zoom is quite fast, the digital ...

Pros: Great little camera when it's working.

Cons: DEW message is infuriating and Sharp is useless in helping you.

Review: The problem occurs with the entire VL-Z line (1, 3, 5 & 7) It is generally is a result of a cold (defective) solder joint and can be fixed within 5 minutes. I've repaired many of them. Write me for free details & I'll send you a picture of the joints ...

Pros: Ergonomically great. Best features for the $$ a year ago.

Cons: Notorious for problems with a faulty dew sensor. Limited & expensive service availability.

The Bottom Line: Find another brand camera with better service availability. This product has notorious problems with faulty dew sensor, and they only have 5 service centers in the USA.

Review: DEW not buy! Tech Support tells me that they have had multiple complaints about bad dew sensors which shut the camera down. Only 5 service centers in all of USA! If you decide you want to buy, then definitely consider buying an extended warranty! I ...

Pros: Great little, flexible, easy to use camera (when working)

Cons: DEW sensor is problem, the more I research, the bigger problem it seems to be.

Review: Brilliant when working. BUT - DEW sensor not reliable, (Missed some great shots whilst waiting for it to reset)packed up completely after 2 years - cost of repair is same as new Sony cam-corder in winter sale in my local store. Plus repair depot is ...

Pros: Lots of features (i.e. digital zoom, picture manipulation, great picture quality...)

Cons: DEW

Review: Yah sure there are plenty of wonderful functions to help in getting the best video capturing experience, but it's no good when this camcorder shuts of when it thinks it has dew!~!!DEW! I just came back from the Iowa State Fair with squat because I left ...

Pros: None - junk from the very beginning!

Cons: Pretty much everything on this camera stopped working immediately.

The Bottom Line: AVOID THIS CAMERA AT ANY COST. Many features quit working within 6 months of owning this, and now it doesn't work at all after only 2 years of infrequent use.

Review: We got this camcorder about 2 years ago, and within the first 5 uses, the LCD screen quit working correctly. Then we started having trouble with the 'dew' light coming on, which disables the camera from working. We thought it was because it is quite ...

Pros: None- It does not work so cannot judge

Cons: Dew problems causing camcorder to stop working completely

Review: How rubbish is this- you buy a camera for those special moments- in my case the birth of my son, and then the camera cuts out and reports dew problems! So not only can I not record anything as the camera completely shuts down, but i can no longer view ...

Pros: Like all the other cameras

Cons: waste of money

Review: I Bought a Sharp Viewcam VL-Z3 two years ago and I have used it about 10 times. Every time I am going to use the camera the dew light goes on and the camera turns off. You may understand how it feels when you try to tape a personal event and the camera ...

Pros: Deceptively good looking

Cons: DEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Review: I'm disgusted!! We were using the SHARP to make our spanish project when without warning it desisted in working...and we hadn't gotten any filming done yet!! we knew some of our lines,and were frustrated that our work was in vain. I can't believe we ...

Pros: good product when its working, only works while warranty is good.

Cons: only works while warranty is good.

Review: I should have done a research before buying, you will be stuck with a camcorder purchased for $600. that no longer works. says DEW. and u cant get it out no matter what. Stay away, you will waste your money. Sharp wont even help you repair it and ...