You get what you pay for

If you want a simple, cheap, point-and-shoot HD camera akin to the Flip camera, you can't do much better than the Creative Vado HD.

The audio and picture quality are okay for a camera of this rank, but there is no auto-focus, so up close shots are a pipe dream. Also, the 2x digital zoom isn't worth writing home about either.

If you just want a cheap camera you can turn on, shoot HD video (I use that term loosely), and upload to sites like YouTube, Facebook, etc....this is fine.

But HD only defines the number of pixels in a shot (1280×720), not the quality thereof. For the picture to be clear, the object of interest must be at least a few feet away. Anything closer tends to blur, so if you're a video reviewer of things like gadgets and gear, look elsewhere.

Overall, it's a decent camera for the price you're paying. But for my purposes, it doesn't suffice. Instead, I returned it and bought a Sanyo camera for about twice the price (with 1080p and 5x optical zoom) which is a much better camera.

So, decent, but not great.

Amazing for the price you pay, serves it's simple purpose well.

I bought the Creative Vado HD for one reason and one reason only, because I wanted to make videos. Not full scale movie videos, but the impulsive "Oh hey, I want to record this!" feeling I get at times.

With that out of the way I will say that the pocket camcorder does fulfill it's job almost perfectly. I say almost because I really only have a few gripes with the Creative Vado HD. The color saturation is overdone. Now that's not particularly a bad thing, it actually works quite well in outdoor settings. The problem becomes apparent when trying to use the Creative Vado HD indoors. With white light or natural light indoors video usually looks great, but any light with a yellow tint will make the video's color look odd.

The second problem I have with the Creative Vado HD is that close up shots really don't work. Of course that's because the device doesn't auto focus, but for the money I really didn't expect it to compare with higher end video cameras.

Now for the good.
-Amazing price, I'm aware that this is a review for the 1st gen device, but I still believe it fares up well against it's new gen models.

-Wide angle lense, captures a wider area than most other recorders.

-The model design, I honestly like the 1st gen's non-fingerprint magnetic design compared to it's newer versions.

-Easy to use software. Need I say more?

Of course if you have the money I'd say go for the higher end pocket camcorders, but for it's current price I'd say the Creative Vado HD 1st gen is amazing for the price you can get it these days.

Awesome, Great youtube Vloging camera and awesome quality!

This Camera is AWESOME its really lite Even with the battery inside! The quality is GREAT i use this to record on youtube and it supports 720p Which is what i always wanted in my camera's. I really recommend this camera and they cost cheap on eBay! you will need to speak louder if you want high sounds though. But this is a great camera.

Great little camera for the price

My phone and digital camera take lousy video so I was looking for something cheap I could carry around when I know I would want decent HD video. This is by no means a substitute for mid to high end HD video cameras. It will give better than analog video quality in med to bright lighting. Do not expect quality video in low light, this is not it's strong suite. It's small enough to carry around in my pocket and forget I have it. The start and stop buttons are easy, but forward and rewind require some extra work. Overall, a good, cheap video camera, and it arrived fast.

Good value for a patient person.

Great for ease of use, small size. Effectively makes nice movies. Drawbacks: If you want to take several clips and make them into one movie, the software won't allow it, instead you are "prompted" to go download and pay for vado software that does this. Overall, ease of function, portability, and battery life are above average.reasonable quality video but takes some getting used to in order to operate efficiently. If it were more user friendly, and Creative didn't try to upsell you on software, I would have given it a 5/5.