Kogan Deluxe Ultra-Zoom Touchscreen Full HD

Don't buy this – I first thought that this camera was a reasonable purchase. "Full" HD at a reasonable price. And at that level, it does the job. BUT... It has an annoying Auto-Focus mechanism that can't be switched off (i.e. con't be focussed to infinity)... so the darn thing *CONTINUALLY* chases focus - so if you're shooting moving objects, it will keep trying to focus... usually on what it 'thinks' you're trying to capture. And that's usually the biggest/closest thing - the foreground.

So your plane or car etc you're trying to film is basically just a constant blur. If it finally does focus on the subject you're chasing, it will usually only last a second or two when it will re-focus on junk you're not interested. MOST ANNOYING.

And an even BIGGER ***BUT***... don't ever let your memory card fill up on this little gem. You'll lose EVERYTHING.

Happened to me today at the F1 Grand Prix. I shot heaps of stuff I was really looking forward to editing. Being quite a bright day, I didn't see the memory status clearly due to the screen washing out in the strong daylight.

Then.... in the middle of a shot... I could see something wasn't right. Managed to catch a 'Memory Full' message. And that was it. TOTALLY ERASED hours of great clips.

I also have a Kogan LED TV (reasonable) and a Kogan Digital Radio (turns itself off all the time).

Never again will I buy from Kogan.

Never again. Not much Can't turn off the Auto Focus. Don't ever let your memory fill up, or you'll LOSE THE LOT.

Hard to use – The video itself is what you would expect for the price, no good in low light. The real problem comes when you try to play or use the footage in any way. The output format for this device is AVI x 264 what does this mean to the average computer gumby. It means when you try to play back on your computer unless you search an find VLC media player it will not play. It also means that it will not interact well with any editing software.

So you will have to spend hours and hours downloading codec and direct show decoders and video converters to use the footage.

And what kind of support did I get when I asked Kogan. OH just download a free converter and fix it yourself. Thanks for nothing. I suggest if you have no computer knowledge leave this camera alone. Looks shiny Video output unusual and won't work on most standard media players

Delivers on promises – I bought this camera rather than a Panasonic at well over twice the price as I really only want it for recording outdoor activities. I scoured all the reviews I could find ( there are a few.. the U.K. ones seem the most in depth and clearly unbiased.) As they say, you get what you pay for. And so far, I am getting it. I had a concern over why this model was dearer (not a lot) than the 23X Ultrazoom..

I used the online chat and while you really have to be patient (reminded me of early days internet, text only, and as slow as )

But the person assured me it was a more recent model and that the lens was improved. From the reviews I understood this to be very likely.

Payment was easy, delivery was a few days and it arrived well packed.

Coming with a 8gig Class 4 SD card was handy as was the 1250 mah battery and charger.

While I've only had for a few weeks it has not been a disappointment in any way.. It does everything they say and while the photos leave a little to be desired, at times, this is not unusual for a videocam it seems.

I'm a left hander and it works just fine for me.

The battery is limited, as they say, but at least over an hour is normal. Although they sell additional batteries I got the exact same one from EBay today (2 week delivery) for well under half price. You'll definitely need one.

As for the 8Gig SD card.. Well, it holds a LOT.. But a lot is relative to the user so again, shop around and look for a Class 6 which is worth having. (Do not buy from EBay.. for this kind of memory card)

The display is excellent (compared to my other electronic cameras) and even outdoors in sunshine you can see the view, just.

The optional menu settings are easy to set, however the manual falls short of explaining what a lot of the more unusual options will do for you.

Would I recommend it to a friend? Why not.. it is great value and the HD video , while not up to the luxury models, sure as heck does a lot for me.

It's also just dropped $20.. Compact, steady, simple, reliable. Inexpensive Bit early to say, but unlikely to be a problem product.