Sony HDR-XR200V

Sony Handycam HDR-XR200V

The Sony Handycam HDR-XR200V provides disappointing video performance, and its clever GPS capabilities aren't as useful as they could be. The GPS-enabled Sony Handycam HDR-XR200V certainly sports innovative features, but it lacks the video quality needed to make it stand out from--or even measure up to--the best small AVCHD camcorders we've seen this year. For $1000 (as of 9/25/2009), you get a Sony camcorder with overall performance on a par with the Sanyo Xacti VPC-FH1, a camera that costs half as much. That $1000 price tag does get you some high-end features, plus all those one expects to find in a modern camcorder: optical image stabilizer, face detection technology to automate focus and skin tone adjustment, and a 15X optical-zoom lens. The HDR-XR200V also includes two unique features, one useful, the other not. One called the Smile Shutter can automatically take stills of subjects as they smile, while also recording high-definition video. That's clever and useful. It's also the first camcorder we've tested with a built-in GPS receiver. The 2.6-inch LCD panel can display a map pinpointing the location where individual clips and stills were recorded, and touching the map's location marker displays and plays the content.