DXG 5-in-1 Digital Camcorder an Affordable Choice for Parents

Our daughter is always doing memorable things, from learning new songs to making up new games that we find just as entertaining.

Prior to her being born, we had bought a regular camcorder but found it was inconvenient to keep it charged and expensive to constantly buy tapes for it. We wanted a digital camcorder, but they were always out of our price range.

The DXG 506V Digital Camcorder gave us what we were looking for at a decent price. Selling for around $100 at most of the local stores (we actually paid $89 for it because it was on sale), the DXG 506V has a nice, compact design that allows us to use the camera with one hand and is small enough where my wife can carry it in her purse so it's available for those spontaneous moments.

The DXG 506V also offers some versatility in the fact is actually a 5-in-1 device. Not only is it a camcorder, it works as a digital camera, a Web cam, an MP3 player and voice recorder so, in theory; it eliminates the need for other devices we might want to take with us.

The camera also runs on four regular AAA batteries, which means we don't have to worry about keeping it charged. We just need to make sure we have extra batteries if we need them. And, so far, it doesn't seem to drain the batteries any faster than a normal digital camera would. We only had to change the batteries once since we bought it.

In terms of quality, the DXG 506V isn't quite as good as the more expensive brands on the market. But, it's not bad considering the price. Both the sound and the picture quality are about as good as the regular VHS camcorder we replaced it with.

There are some bad things about the DXG 506V. First, there isn't much built-in memory; only about enough for a couple short home movies. When you buy this camera, you're going to want to buy additional memory (in the form of a memory card) to go with it.

Also, while the 506V does a decent job as a camcorder, I was very disappointed with the still photos I attempted to take with it. They were very low quality; dark and blurry and I wouldn't want to use it in that capacity if I were taking a photo I expected to treasure for a lifetime.