PowerLead PLD005 camcorder

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A decent camcorder

This is a very decent camcorder for the price.  I was sent it for review and overall I am impressed although some small things could be better, I think.

The camcorder is neat and well-built; it looks as though it will be durable even with prolonged use, although it may not stand up to really rough handling, being dropped and so on.  It is decently accessorised, with a simple but practical belt-case, a lead for charging and data transfer, a disc with drivers (which I didn't need) and a fairly good instruction manual. It takes a standard SD-card; I've been using a 32GB card which is fine, but it won't take a larger one.

The camcorder is light and comfortable in the hand, with an adjustable hand-strap which will accommodate most hands, although it may not cope with the very largest; my hands are largeish but not huge and they're toward the upper limit of the strap's size.  It is fairly simple to use once you get the hang of it, but I didn't find the instruction manual as clear as it might be.  Battery life seems to be around 2 hours' use on normal video.   There is an LED light for low-light work, and although it's not all that bright it drains the battery significantly quicker.  The fold-out screen is perfectly adequate and is OK to use for the editing functions.

There are things I'm slightly less happy about.  The picture quality is OK but frankly nothing special, and doesn't seem a lot better than I get from the 13mp camera on my phone.  I find the menus a bit awkward to navigate (although, to be fair, I may just get used to it).  The control buttons are generally well placed for use by a right-handed person, but the Record button isn't easy to reach when the camera is strapped to my hand, and I have to start and stop using my other hand rather than my thumb, which isn't great.  The zoom is digital rather than optical, with the consequent loss of picture quality.  There's nothing wrong with that, but you might like to be aware.  Also, the charging/ data transfer lead is standard USB at one end, but the plug at the camera end is not standard micro- or mini-.  It works fine, but if you lose or damage it, it may be tricky to replace.

Overall, though, this is a very decent camcorder.  It's compact, light and practical, it seems durable and does a pretty good job.  I can recommend it.