Kodak's weather-resistant Zx1 video camera has great surface appeal. With a stylish design, it weighs in slightly heavier than the Flip video camera, but is small enough that it doesn’t take up tons of room in my pocketbook. Its rubber surface means I can accidentally drop it and not have to worry about rain or snow. The two inch LCD screen shows quality images and with only five total buttons, it seems user-friendly for amateur videographers.
The features and functionality of the Zx1 are also good. It records 720p video with the press of a single button and even films in HD. The USB cable and software that come included make it easy to upload videos to sites like Youtube.
But the downsides of this video camera are the buts and bolts accessories. After unwrapping the components, I had to charge the AA rechargeable batteries in the mini charger. Then, once the batteries were ready and I’d fidgeted with the buttons to make sure I know how to start and stop recording, at the moment I turned on the power button to start videoing my husband’s golf swing an icon started blinking. What? Not enough memory? Neither the packaging nor the instructions had indicated that I’d needed to buy a separate memory card. So I dug around for info on the Internet and found out the camera accepts SD and SDHC cards for storage and up to 32 GB is supported. Ugh, what a hassle to have to go back to the store to buy a necessary component.
Retailing for about $150, I think it’s a good value for a durable, small video camera, but you’ll have to tolerate some frustrating details.