Creative Vado Pocket Video Camera

Video quality on an average was just ok, but like I said it’s not more than a portable webcam. The Vado does however have quite a good light sensor, although in extreme non-natural lighting, bright colors got a little bit burnt out, but not enough to raise a complaint. Outdoor shooting was ok. The Vado’s camera also employs the use of digital zoom up to 2x. It’s extremely smooth while zooming in or out with no jerky motions whatsoever. On the whole, the playback quality was not much better than a mobile phone’s camera that’s capable of delivering video with the same resolution, but not too bad for a CMOS camera. The lack of a photo option does make it a bit cumbersome as it just means carrying around another device for that.

Since the Vado also has a built in speaker you can easily go back to the videos you’ve recorded and stored on the drive and play them back right from the player. It’s not very loud so you won’t be able to hear much in a crowded area.

Battery
One thing that the company promised and managed to deliver on (at least up to 80 percent or so) is the battery life. With non stop recording the Vado clocked in approximately one hour and 40 minutes. That’s not altogether too bad.

The Bottom Line
Consider the Vado a mobile phone without the phone... or anything else for that matter save the camera. That too, you’ll have to minus the image option. While it is an excellent video capture device for the frequent traveler, as stated previously though, the only and major drawback is not having a facility to take pictures which means having to carry a camera separately. Then again, all digital cameras come with video recorders as well and some also come bundled with a YouTube option that converts videos for the site.

This makes the Vado a very off-beat device and something to very seriously consider for an average user. If you’re a hardcore YouTube-er, it makes obvious sense, if not; I’d recommend a good digicam.  With a price tag of Rs. 8, 500 for only 2GB, you’ll quite easily get a budget digicam. What irks me more is that Creative hasn’t included anything with the packaging. For that price I’d expect at least a strap to hold it as it could very easily get misplaced or at the very least an AV cable.