Smile!!! I`m watching you. (Bush VCC 200)

Member Name: sue26

Product:	Bush VCC 200
Date:	06/09/01 (607 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Does the job

Disadvantages: A bit bulky

I`ve always wanted a camcorder but I wasn`t prepared to pay the prices that they were when they first came out, so I thought I`d wait until they decreased rapidly in price or I found one second-hand.

Well, having no luck finding a used model, lets face it, you don`t see many camcorders at car boot sales and jumble sales, I decided to browse Kays catalogue to see if any of the prices were pleasing on the eye. The cheapest camcorder on offer was the Bush Model VCC-200, VHS-C type, this was priced quite reasonably at £300 and because I`d amounted a bit on my shop & save it only cost me £250, not bad eh?

For a cheap make it is excellent quality and has loads of extra features. Along with the camcorder there was also a battery charger, the battery itself, which has 50 minutes recording time when fully charged, a DC cord, so that you can still record when the battery is totally flat and an audio/video scart lead for playing and editing tapes from the camcorder to the tv. Also included was a padded camcorder case, adjustable shoulder strap, 1 VHS-C tape with 50 minutes recording space, tape adapter that you just put the tape into then put it straight into the video and a tripod.

Camcorder Functions List:

10x zoom - Enables you to zoom in and out up to 10 times.
Date selector - You have to manually put in the date, but you can choose whether or not to have it displayed.
Adjustable viewfinder - Rotates 180 degrees for easier use.
Battery low indicator - Battery indicator flashes in viewfinder a few minutes before the battery goes completely flat.
Scene mode adjuster - This button lets you alter the scene in the viewfinder according to the conditions you are recording under, such as night time or bright sunshine.
Backlight - You press this when the subject you are recording is in front of a bright window or in very bright sunlight.
Playback - So you can play back what you`ve recorded without plugging it in t
o the tv.

This is a little bit bigger than the more expensive slimline versions on the market, but it is still small enough to be able to handle easily and has an adjustable hand strap on the side. The buttons along the top are perfectly positioned and just the right size so that once you are used to using it you won`t accidentally press the wrong ones.

Now bush is not reknown for it`s quality, but I`m extremely chuffed with this camcorder. The picture and sound quality are excellent and they do not diminish when you transfer the film from the camcorder tape to a normal vhs tape. Neither does the image diminish when you use the zoom facility. The one thing you do have to be careful of though is moving the camcorder around too fast when recording. Although it has auto focus, when moved too fast the picture will sometimes blur as it tries to refocus, but I suspect that will happen with most other models.

The tapes themselves are very easy to load and unload at the side, you just need to press one button, and each tape has 50 minutes of recording space which is ample enough. Additional tapes are available at Argos at £15 for 5.

Universal batteries are now easily available that can be used on all the well known makes, but because this is a bottom of the range model you have to order a replacement battery direct from the supplier. Saying that though, after almost 2 years my battery is still going strong and it only takes an hour to fully charge it.

I`ve got absolutely no idea of the price and accessability of repairs because in nearly 2 years nothing has ever gone wrong with mine. I have been quite happy with my toy, but if something does go wrong with it then I won`t be having it repaired because I`ve seen much more modern models second hand for under £200 so it wouldn`t really be economical to have it fixed.

Summary: