Sony AC-VQ50 AC Adaptor/Charger quick info Charger For InfoLITHIUM M Series

The charger that came with the camcorder is a disappointment -you need to plug it directly into the camcorder itself which means that the flimsy plastic front-flap for the connectors has to be opened, and when staying in dorms like I did a lot, sharing rooms with strangers you don't know or trust it's nothing less than an invitation to steal your expensive camcorder complete with battery and charger!

So I found that with the AC-VQ50 you can remove the battery from the camcorder, place the camcorder in some safer place (a locker etc.) than on the floor, close to an electrical outlet which others will be using for their stuff as well.
At least with this setup you'll only have your charger + battery stolen if you're unlucky (and for that to happen the thief in question would have to have a need for that exact battery type as well, narrowing down the chances).

As with any charger I prefer ones that have wires instead of clogging up a complete outlet with their "wall wart" AC adaptors, and this one has a wire. It also has a wire that goes to the camcorder (as with the original charger). If the camcorder is plugged in you can switch between powering it up (i.e. in case you want to view some of your filming) or charge the battery placed in the charger.

Unfortunately you can't do both at once (which would allow you to charge two batteries at once). Not really something I've had the need for anyway, so I wouldn't call this a drawback. And in order to power the camcorder AND charge the battery at the same time I assume the charger would be twice as heavy to give the power needed which defeats the purpose of a worldwide travel charger (which it was in my case).

The LCD display is informative -with a button press it tells you how much time your battery has left, how much time it takes to charge and how much time a full charge takes. I'm not sure what the difference is between a "full" and "normal" charge is, but if I have the time I leave the battery in until it's fully charged.
A faint electronic "beep" sound is heard each time you press the button. Loud enough to tell you that a new display function has been selected, faint enough not to annoy you (or others in the room, in the middle of the night).
It's also quite light, and as I've already said it works all over the world (100-240 V AC, 50/60Hz), so all you may need when travelling around is a few AC adapter plugs (to accomodate for different types of electrical outlet types). If I was to be really picky and find something I'd miss it would be a backlit display (nice for dark rooms) and a small bag to go with it. I solved the latter by buying a small, soft pouch to prevent scratches, and the former by keeping a torch around (which I needed anyway on a trip like this. However, these aren't really issues to get hung up on. It does what it's supposed to, and it does it really well. I give it top score as it survived my 8 month test (and using my camcorder every day I charged the batteries often).