Toshiba Camileo S20 Full HD 1080p Camcorder UK version - Black

Ive had camcorders in the past, my last was a mini DVD camcorder but i found the messing around with dvds every 30 minutes annoying, especially when we were on holiday.

To be honest this is the only real time i use camcorders so i didnt want to spend a fortune on something which will gather dust alot of the time, so i looked at the £100 mark to see if i could get something half decent.

Now i know at this price range you cant expect the world, but i did want something which can cope with putting out decent quality video and isnt trying to do too many things at once, so the Camileo S20 1080P looked ideal, its got a decent feature set and the quality settings are varied enough to record high quality and low without any real sacrifices.

The camcorder itself is lightweight and small, i have to say ive fitted the wrist strap as it realy is light and i was worried id drop it. The feel of it is nice, pretty good build quality and it does look realy smart. The main LCD screen is huge for the size of the camcorder, in fact nearly half of the camcorder itself is the screen.

The back of the unit has the multi function controls. The record/ok button, zoom/menu scroll, light settings/left and so on aswell as the removable panel which hides the HDMI output (rarely a camcorder has this), standard TV out and USB sockets. The bottom of the unit has the tripod attachment socket. The top has the SD HC slot and the Macro / Landscape function switch. The back of the unit has the Camera/Camcorder function key to switch between Still camera and camcorder.

The LCD is bright and realy clear, in fact its pretty top quality and big which is a bonus. You will get the usual blur when its realy bright, but its decent enough. The main menu is layed out well and is easy to navigate aswell as playback menus, nothing complicated.

The battery is a rechargable pack which last about an hour so far and im impressed with it. Recording wise, i have a 16GB SDHC Class 7 (Id recommend nothing less than a class 5 for realy good access times). I think 16GB gets around 5-6 hours at 1080P recording (30 fps).

The quality of recording is realy good, in fact i have to admit i was suprised, it matched my Canon DVD recorder without a problem and in fact looked better in colour saturation. The sound is good, nothing special, if your recording at 1080p you will notice some lag on fast moving objects, so id knock it down to maybe 720 which handles it much better if your recording anything like sports.

At night or in low light conditions there is noise as most camcorders suffer from it, its not bad but it is obvious. In daylight its spot on, no problems and looks sharp.

The package contents is great, aside from the camcorder you get a tripod, camera case, usb cable, tv cable, HDMI stock cable, manuals and software aswell as a 4GB memory card from some dealers.

Overall this realy is a top performer in the £100-£180 price range and easily out does many others on the market, ideal for those who dont want anything too big to carry but still want quality....

Been needing a new portable camcorder for ages now, and this really did suit the bill. It's extremely small, which is a great feature, so even while in it's case, it fits in pockets easily.

The recording quality is amazing. Inside when dark you'd need to mess with some of the features for best quality, but after that is great. I thought inside recording would be bad quality due to the other reviews, but it's not bad at all indoors. And outside recordings are so amazing. The HD is superb, loving 1080p recordings. But mostly like that I have a choice for 720p and lower to. HD does take up quite a bit of space, but if you buy a suitable SD card for the camcorder, you'll be fine.

The menu is a little annoying, and could have been created a little bit easier to use, but it does have a lot of functions built in, and after a few days I'd got the hang of it.

The box has a guide, cables for use with computer, as well as cables for use with TV's, a small tripod, a case, a wristband, the camcorder, 2 CD's, a cleaner, the Toshiba warranty and the mains charger (Which has a slot for American plugs). The items it comes with are amazing, and there is a lot of them. Other reviews say it comes with a SD card, which it does not.

Packaging was very good, all in perfect condition when it came, very easy to open. I wondered when buying this if it would break easy, due to it being made of plastic, but I've dropped it already and not even a scratch was made, let alone a break. Very happy with the box it came in, would feel safe dropping it from a high distance (Not that I would).

All in all this is a amazing camcorder, and even better for the money. And if your looking for something with great quality, and is a good price, this is the camcorder.

Bought this for its size and handiness. It didn't disappoint. Took it on holiday and it was very easy to carry around. It takes very acceptable video footage and still pictures. Easy to use once you read the instruction notes carefully. Lots of accessories included and build quality is great too. All in all I am glad I bought this camcorder. Its not for top quality footage as the lack of zoom focus whilst filming is a miss; however, for quick easy holiday and daily footage it is terrific.