Reviews Written by ethquake
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August 20, 2007
Completely Idiot Proof
10 of 10 Yahoo! Users found this review helpfulPros: Super compact, excellent nighttime/indoor shooting, great flash, long battery life, superior LCD (viewable even in direct sunlight!)
Cons: Too slippery, no optical viewfinder, lens "barrel" attracts too much dust, won't accept my non-"SDHC" 4gb Trasncend card (prefers "SDHC")
I got this camera because I'm leaving for Europe in a few days. Abes of Maine was selling it for 10% discount off MSRP, so I gave them my business. The camera is super compact (think canon powershot SD400).
I needed something compact with a wide-angle lens (28mm or less) AND optical image stabilization. This narrowed down the field to essentially the Canon Powershot SD800is and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX100. I'm a sucker for Leica lens, so I went with the panasonic over the Canon SD800is.
Even though I knew I was bypassing a slightly cheaper camera WITH an optical viewfinder, I was getting the Lumix DMC-FX100 with the ability to capture video in 720p for my HDTV. I just set camera mode to "Intelligent Auto" and the camera does the rest. The images are flawless whether indoors or outdoors, daytime or nightime, still images or motion pictures.
I've only had it for three days, but I'm impressed as ever. The ability for this camera to capture images at 4000x3000 lines (12 Megapixel) is also something to behold. Video is captured at 1280x720 (or 720p, although at a sluggish 15 fps). It can however capture video at 680x480 at 30 fps. Bottomline is this: I can bring this camera with me everywhere I go because it is so compact. At $360, it's definitely a great buy. Now to find that 4gb or 8gb "SDHC" card so I don't have to tote a bunch of SD cards around.... ... -
April 13, 2005
Biggest Bang for the Buck!
2 of 2 Yahoo! Users found this review helpfulPros: Playlist on the fly, superb sound, dirt cheap, huge storage, cheaper and removable battery, high quality case, plays windows media
Cons: porky at about the size of a cassette walkman, jog wheel, no dock
This hard drive player sounds a lot better than an ipod, costs a little over half as much as the ipod and has a terrific playlist [on the fly] feature. You can essentially buy your music from any music store, whereas apple only allows itunes music on the ipod if you're paying for single tracks. I was amazed at the superb quality of the case.
The playlist on the fly feature is also unmatched and I just love it so much. Creative builds high end sound cards and unless my ears are deceiving me, they must have a pretty powerful "sound card" in this player as well because the audio stats are unbelievable: 98dB signal to noise ratio with a 75dB channel separation. Translation: flat out better than an ipod. In fact apple wont give you their audio stats because they know that they just can't compare.
The Nomad's value can't be beat either. 60gb of portable storage for less than $275 is a bargain no matter how you look at it. I only rip my music in windows media audio format at 128 kbps. Translation: I can fit 3,000 albums or roughly 30,000 songs on my 60gb nomad jukebox zen extra! I didn't realize how convenient it was to have all my music in one spot until I got this player. Now I can only wonder how I've coped all along.
If you want something fancy that everyone and his/her dog already has, get the ipod; if you're in the market for something absolutely functional and surprisingly better sounding and even a lot cheaper, opt for the creative nomad jukebox zen extra. And dont forget, creative's livelihood is audio technology. Nuff said.
Emmanuel ...
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This Sandisk Sansa Clip MP3 Player Is A Tiny Beast
24 of 26 Yahoo! Users found this review helpfulPros: One Of The Best Sounding MP3 Players at Any Price; Cool Design; Feature-Packed
Cons: No Charger Included; Controls Go Haywire When Batteries Are Very Low (No Resume, etc)
I picked up the 1GB version of this player at Target(r) because they didn't have the (more colorful) 2GB version. It cost $40 before tax and was I blown to smithereens with the plethora of features this tiny thing had.
For starters, it sounds a lot better than any ipod out there (nano, mini, shuffle, 80/160gb version, etc (I should know, I've listened to them all using classical, rap, reggae, hip hop, R&B, calypso, jazz, and rock music as benchmarks)). We have an ipod killer on our hands, folks!
The screen is fantastic. Think of this thing as an ipod shufflle with waaaaay better sound quality, a super high quality display, an FM tuner, a voice recorder, a five band no-nonsense graphic equalizer, and a way cool design (the glow ring is where it's at). ...