Aiptek IS-DV2 Flash Media Camcorder

I received this camera as a Christmas gift. My wife picked it up off the rack at Target as an impulse. What a great little toy. But then calling it a toy does not do it justice.

The IS-DV, in my opinion, is the perfect solution to the current digital revolution. With four kids, three dogs, three cars, a mortgage and escalating natural gas prices, I do not have a lot of discretionary income to spend staying current with digital technology. I bought my son an MP3 player for his birthday in November that was broken and out-of-date by Christmas. Buying a replacement for my three year old 1.5 megapixel camera, a digital video recorder to replace the VHS-C camcorder and an MP3 player could have set me back some serious money only to have all of these devices be out-of-date by summer. We could not afford to do that and save for four college educations at the same time. Then Santa came up with the IS-DV. As it was called in a previous review, its the Instamatic solution for my family.

What's so great about it? It does everything for next to nothing. At $100+/-, this camera does more than anyone should expect. Its digital camera takes better pictures than my current digital camera for 1/3 the price. The digital video recorder produces video that is as good or better than my VHS-C for 1/2 the price. The MP3 player has as much storage as MP3 players costing twice as much. And, it connects to my PC as a removable storage device, so I don't really need any firmware to control the various files I'm putting on the unit or taking off.

The controls are very intuitive. I was up and running in about two minutes without even having to crack open the instruction manual. The joy stick on the back of the unit just makes too much sense. I wonder now why none of my previous gadgets had one. The menu is easy to understand. Even my wife has the thing figured out, and that's what I think the plus of this unit really is. It can be used by kids, moms and dads to record the important things in family life without having to be a tech-head. Sure, the quality of picture, video and sound are not up to the standards of other equipment currently available, but what do you want for 100 bucks? It is the perfect solution for the busy family without busting the family budget. Record everything you could want or think of. Edit and save the pictures, videos, sounds for the future in file types that should be around for some time to come. Then don't feel guilty when technology advances and you want to replace it because it is in essence, disposable.

There are some things that could be improved. But remember, you only spent $100. The biggest gripe would be the low light sensitivity. It just doesn't like to take video with just incandescent lights on at night. I don't know if a more sensitive chip would raise the cost of the unit very much, but Aiptek might want to think about this as they design the next generation. The rubber press in cover for the SD card seems a little flimsy and doesn't always want to stay in place. As the SD card amounts to 1/3 of the total investment in the camera and the place where all of the family memories reside, it could possibly be more substantial. One place in the owner's manual mentions a lens cap. The Aiptek website doesn't mention one. The store packaging doesn't mention one and I didn't get one. I don't know whether one was supposed to come with the unit or not. But, for a few cents, Aiptek should have included one. I've already finger printed the lens a couple of times. Since the lens is right out there, I'm concerned that it will get scratched. The digital zoom is like all digital zooms. It ruins the picture quality. My final gripe is the thing is just too small! At 6'-4", my hands are a bit bigger than average and the thing is almost too small to hold and operate. I keep thinking about Ben Stiller's phone in Zoolander; so small you can hardly see it. An odd complaint, but it does make the unit uncomfortable for me to use at times.

Since I've only had the thing a week, I can't attest to its durability. It could go the way of the Zen Micro and crap up in the next few days. Let's hope not. (I paid twice as much for the Micro as the IS-DV)

Now, if they could just figure out how to sync the thing to my Outlook, connect to X-Box Live and interface with Cingular I'd be all set.