Customer Rating: 
Summary: One Star for Compact Size. That's it.
Comment: We received this camcorder as a gift and were smitten. What a coincidence that we were in the market for a camcorder and someone GAVE us one. We were pleased with how small this DXG was and I was excited to try it out.
Then we immediately realized that it's not worth $150.00. It's not even worth $20.00 in my opinion, and so we gave it away.
I don't know if there are camcorders in this price range that have better quality or not (as I bought a Canon FS100). But, the horrible quality cannot be ignored. The mp3 option is ridiculous; it is not a selling point and they should've spent such time and effort on better QUALITY than to incorporate mp3 capability. The camera feature is worse than some cell phones, even at 5 megapixels. I imagine that the Flip is better than this, albeit only 60 minutes record time and more expensive.
To receive its "best" recording quality, use this camcorder outdoors in bright light. Any other lighting situation, be it indoors or out, really shows off its... failures.
PROS: The compact size.
It's very convenient to bring with you anywhere because it will fit in your back pocket or purse, which may lend itself to more use than your larger (better quality) camcorders.
The only person I would recommend this product to are children. If dropped or broken, the price isn't too bad that you would have a heart attack. And, the recording quality is better than cell phones. So if you have an avid director on your hands that's 13 or under and tends to not care for their items, by all means, have them try this DXG out.
If this product was marketed towards children, it would probably get better reviews. But alas, DXG tried to pull it off as an item that was worth it's features and price.
Customer Rating: Summary: Exceptional, for what it is. A daylight video camera.
Comment: This is the Honda Civic of digital vid cams.
Compact, durable, reliable and functional. It's not a "luxury" model but it's better than a lot of other cameras that cost more money.
Most of the people who are complaining about this cam are doing so based on totally unrealistic comparisons. You cannot compare the performance and functionality of an $800 camera to that of a $90 camera.
First and foremost, this is a daylight "outdoor" type camera. This is not an all-purpose "shoot video anywhere" camera. As long as you use it in well lit areas, it's OK. If you're trying to shoot in dark areas or at night, forget it.
I think the "all in one" functionality of the 506v goes a bit overboard (who is really going to use that MP3 player?) but the reason we all bought this model is for the video capacity, which works quite well in daylight. The ability to take decent still photos is a nice bonus. I've never used the voice recorder- the only times I've ever felt compelled to record the voice of something, I felt equally compelled to take video too, so I think the voice recorder may be a bit superfluous.
Thankfully, SD cards have gotten really cheap, so it won't cost you too much to stick in a 2 or 4 gb card and have plenty of recording capability (appx. couple hours with a 2gb card). I'm guessing that the people who whine that the 32mb of built in memory "isn't enough" are pretty technologically unsavvy and had no idea what they were buying. Of course it "isn't enough". Spend the $10 or $15 on a 2gb card and you're pretty much set.
On the issue of batteries... Some people say the AAA battery use instead of a battery pack is a con of this camera. Another reviewer astutely pointed out that a large portion of the costs associated with digital devices are in the battery (and the memory). DXG is able to keep the price on this camera low because the end user gets to decide how much memory they want (in terms of an SD card) and what battery solutions they want to go with. Me? I absolutely, 100% prefer the ability to use stock battery cells. Rechargable AAA's keep costs cheap with the added advantage of being able to run to the store for more cels in an emergency. Can't say the same thing about "battery packs".
All in all, I'm really glad I chose this one. I purchased it for use at ourdoor events and as such, it suits that purpose. It isn't the last video camera you will ever purchase, but it is definitely the smallest, cheapest and handiest for outdoor users.
