Sanyo Xacti VPC-CA6

We reviewed the first incarnation of Sanyo's palm-sized solid-state camcorder back in 2004 and were fairly impressed. Back then, though, the SD cards it used weren't cheap. It's a different story now, making the new Xacti - complete with weather-proofing to the IPX4 standard - a much more interesting proposition. The 1GB card supplied is good for around 45 minutes of 640 x 480, 30fps MPEG4 video, the quality is as good as any standard consumer tape-based camcorder, plus there's now very effective electronic image stabilisation. Not only that, it will take 6-megapixel stills that aren't half bad. The tiny lens and basic optics mean some softness and fringing, but for snaps and photo-blog duties it totally outstrips any cameraphone. At 174g and with battery life good enough to last for days, we've fallen in love with this little beauty.

Author: David Fearon