Sanyo VPC-CA6 Hyprid Camcorder/Camera

Summary: Don't buy this gadget, very poor design compared to the previous Sanyo Xacti model I used.

My first Sanyo Xacti camcorder was the C40 which I had for about one year, and proved to be a very reliable, versatile and useful little digital camcorder with the added advantage of it taking very good quality photographs. Having used the Sanyo Xacti C40 digital camcorder for over a year filming various movies including my african bicycle adventure, my driving school video podcasts and my hang glider blog photographs, I was very upset when the little silver Sanyo Xacti C40 digital camcorder disappeared into thin air. I don't know if it was stolen, or I just lost it.

A few months latter, and I really needed another small digital camcorder to replace the Sanyo C40, as my Sony Digital 8 TRV camcorder was too big to carry around with me all the time.

I wanted to buy another Sanyo Xacti C40, but it was no longer available to buy, so the next model that came up was the Sanyo Xacti CA6 digital camcorder. I needed a replacement really fast, and having been totally satisfied with my first purchase from the Sanyo stable of Camcorders, I didn't think twice about buying the Sanyo CA6. What a big mistake.

When the Sanyo package arrived, I eagerly opened the box, and as I took the digital camcorder out of the wrapping, the first thing I noticed was the plastic casing of the Sanyo CA6 digital camcorder as opposed to the metallic silver casing of the Xacti C40, that was not the only disappointment.

I opened up the camera lcd view finder to find out that the camcorder viewfinder does not swivel around and therefore I can't record video blogs with it! The other problem is you can't charge the battery while it is in the camera, which rules it out it being used as a webcam. Finally the VPC-CA6 does not have a tripod mounting hole as did the Sanyo Xacti C40, so I can't take professionally stable shots!

On the whole a big disappointment when compared to the excellent Sanyo Xacti C40.

I would have returned the Sanyo Xacti VPC-CA6 back to the place I bought it from, but I was just too lazy packing it up and then arranging a courier to take it back, especially when I would have to pay for delivery charges.

So my advice to you is don't buy the Sanyo Xacti VPC-CA6 Digital Camcorder!

Hitachi HD Digital Video Camera