Summary: DO NOT BUY!

Comment: when it worked, it worked great, but after about 2 weeks, the screen went black and stayed that way. luckily, i bought it used for cheap. unluckily, that voided the warranty. last sanyo product i will ever buy...ever. cant even find a place in my town that sells or can fix them. not willing to pay 200 dollars to get it repaired by the company. big ripoff. really pissed. i guess ill just have to live with throwing 350 dollars out the window.

Summary: Black screen of death

Comment: I was amazed to read the reviews that mirrored my personal experience. This will be my last Sanyo anything... Sanyo should have provided firmware to fix their lighting shortcomings and paid for the massive amount of camera failures.

Summary: Black screen of death

Comment: 5 days after the one year warranty expired I turned the camera on and there was no preview image on the view screen. Everything else seemed fine, it took pictures (although blank), the sound was working, voice instructions were OK too. Checked some HD1 forums and found this to be a very common problem with HD1's. Called tech support and was told I was to pay for parts and labor since it was out of warranty. Labor was only 90 days anyway. I asked the tech if there was a possibility of a recall and was told "no". Too bad, it was a good video camera. Stills need quite a bit of light. Stay away from used HD1's. I think I will stay away from Sanyo after this experience.

Summary: Buyer Beware

Comment: I saw a review for this camera in a magazine when they first came out and it sounded like a great thing. I ordered one from the PX. It took forever to come in and when it did there was no picture, only a black screen. The PX doesn't have the best track record for electronics, so after I took it back, I bought another one somewhere else. It came in and worked. I thought it took great video, nice vibrant colors. There is a large delay when taking pictures, so you have to anticipate what will happen during action shots and click a few seconds in advance, and don't even bother taking pictures while taking video. It leaves a noticable glitch in the video stream. I used this camera very little. I pulled it out for band concerts and such to take a few pictures. I always stored it in a padded case, etc. Anyway, after about 6 months I turn it on one day and I have a black screen again. My husband called the company...apparently this is a known issue which occurs frequently. My camera should have still been under warranty, but the guy said because of its model number it was made in Japan so the warranty didn't apply. (I thought they were all made in Japan). Anyway, we could send it all in (in the original packaging) and they would repair it. We did. They charged us over $200! I have used the camera 6 times since it has been repaired. I have treated it gently and handled it with care. Yesterday I turned it on to make sure the battery was charged and ready to tape my daughter's graduation and the black screen was back. I want to cry. I'm out a lot of money and I have nothing to show for it but a defective product that should have been recalled.

Summary: Do Not Buy - Black Screen Gets You In The End

Comment: In my opinion this is not a marketable product. The cameras features are irrelevant if it does not work. There is clearly a design fault and the product should be withdrawn from sale until there is a fix. When it did work it was a convenient pocketable unit. As for HD - possibly at high noon in the Sahara, but in anything but perfect light the results are dissappointing.