Customer Rating: 
Summary: Almost perfect except for 3 things
Comment: I have owned the Sanyo Xacti HD1000 for almost 1 year and I have a lot to say about it. What I really wanted was a small camera that would be great for backpacking trips and traveling abroad. My previous video camera used a built in hard disk drive which I later found out couldn't be used over 10,000 feet. Not a good feature for me when summiting 13,000+ foot mountains in the Sierras. The HD1000 with its SD/SDHC flash memory recording technology is the answer for me!
My wish: a small, light video camera costing well under $1000 that takes great videos and great still images. Must record to SD memory cards, have image stabilization, be easy to use, have good battery life and a mircophone jack.
The reality: The HD1000 is so great in many ways-- good battery life, easy to use, etc. But...here are three reasons why this camera is not perfect:
1) image quality for videos is good, but not amazing. You won't be competing with the Discovery Channel, but the videos that you shoot in bright light will be a lot of fun to watch. I would give the grade of B+ for video quality. Still photo image quality is another story. I am very picky about the quality of images and this camera sucks at taking still photos. I would give the grade of C- for still image quality. This will be less of an issue for people who are not picky.
2) No optical image stabilization. The digital image stabilization that Sanyo uses on the HD1000 and even the newer HD1010 just plain doesn't compensate for people's shaky hands. You must hold the camera very steady, especially when zooming, or your videos will be a headache to watch. I demand optical image stabilization on future models Sanyo!
3) Lens crop factor/ lens angle. The Sanyo HD1000 has a lens that can zoom up to 10x which is great. Using no zoom at all, the lens is equivalent to about 35-36 mm on a 35mm camera. Translation: you need to stand at least 10-15 away from a group of people to get them all in the video (unless they are huddling). My primary use of the camera is for backpacking and traveling, so I want something for people and landscapes. The lens on this camera is too narrow. The only solution is to buy a wide angle lens which screws on to the front of the camera and gives a viewing angle that is fantastic. But the wide angle lens is big and heavy, and ruins this camera's sleek, lightweight design. Nevertheless, 90% of the video I take with the HD1000 is with the wide angle lens screwed onto this camera. I just can't tolerate the video any other way. It is unfortunate that my camera is now so bulky.
CONCLUSION: So far technology has not provided the average consumer with a cost effective all-in-one video camera/still camera that will knock your socks off. The HD1000 is a good device and I am glad to own it, but it has some flaws that really bug me. I guess the best way I can balance the pros and cons is this: if you wait for the perfect device to come around, you will miss out on taking videos until then. In the meantime consider picking up the HD1000 and having fun with it while finding out what you like and don't like about a camera so that you can define for yourself what your next perfect camera will be like.
