Cocktail Confessions

It’s been a few months now since each of these handheld ‘shoot and share’ flash camcorders have been released to the consuming public with plenty of both professional reviews written and video examples available to compare out on YouTube.

Unfortunately, I still cannot decide between the Sony PM5 or Kodak Zx3 to purchase for myself and I have never agonized so much over such a simplistic decision.  It’s not like I’m buying a new car or house.  We are only talking about a sub $175 camera.

From a previous posting I gave what I call a half-assed review on my brief experience with the Playsport and that I was somewhat impressed.  Mind you, I didn’t have a chance to shoot under water (it’s waterproof up to 10 feet), or accidentally drop it (it has a rugged exterior), or do any advanced features such as using the HDMI port.

I haven’t had any luck playing with the Sony PM5 at all.  All the Best Buy’s in my area only seem to have it listed on their websites but not in their stores.  The one I did get to see in person at a local MicroCenter didn’t have the cables or batteries to power it on, so I couldn’t do anything with it other than hold it.

The pricing for both is about a $20 dollar difference.  The Playsport generally retails for $149 (sans SD memory) and the PM5 is $169 (sans memory as well).  Depending on the day of the week, or on pure chance, I have seen both ‘unofficially’ listed cheaper at various websites, especially the PM5.  It’s weird to me that model color seems to effect the price as well, especially amongst the Sony.  Sony models in white and pink seem to be listed cheaper as they are the more unpopular of the flavors.  Not sure why, and I really don’t care if I hold a pink one or a blue one.  I’ve seen the pink one as cheap as $137 online, then jump back up in price the next day,  Same with the white model listing at $145 one day and then back up the next.  The Playsport fluctuates on occasion as well.  I’ve seen a white Zx3 for as low as $127.  Unfortunately none of the major online or retail stores had discounted either one over Memorial Day weekend.  I was fully prepared to commit to one or the other if there was a decent sale this past weekend, but alas, there wasn’t.

Kodak Playsport

I need to make a decision soon, as I could have used one this last weekend when I went to Travel Town up in Los Angeles.  I ended up using the video option on my Motorola Droid phone which worked just fine, but kind of a hassle to get the video off the phone, convert it, and then do some editing before I posted to YouTube (I’ll have those up shortly in an upcoming post so you can see).  I also want to use it for both some BBQ’ing vodcasts and model train builds I’m doing as another hobby.

In examining their features, both have some solid pro’s….and some solid con’s.  It’s a wash to me, but for some reason I keep drifting back to the Bloggie PM5, but just by a hair.  If I can’t find a good deal in the next few days online or in person for the PM5, I may just opt to go with the Playsport anyway, and I won’t be bummed.  See, between my wife and I, and some various engagements coming up with my friends and this very website, I’m finding more and more reasons to buy one sooner than later.  As a matter fact, we are planning to go to Victorville in about 2 weeks time for a Bluegrass and Country festival and I’d love to shoot some content.  I also have a friend coming in town next week, and Id like to use it for some goofing around we’ll be doing ourselves.

So, in no particular order, here we go again:

• Kodak has an edge in both being waterproof and more rugged body. Kodak +1.5 (I have a tendency to drop shit…a lot)
• Kodak has an HDMI port: Kodak +.5 although I doubt I’d use this feature, thus the 1/2 point.
• Both on have built in video editing software that self installs to a PC and both suck.: wash
• Sony has built in USB arm, whereas Kodak needs an additional cable.: Sony +.5
• Sony has a 270 degrees swivel lens for self shooting and protection.: Sony +1
• Both have a 5MP camera, neither have a Macro lens or flash.: wash
• Sony has a ‘slightly’ larger LCD screen: Sony +.5
• Kodak LCD has special ‘glare feature’ saturation filter: Kodak +.5
• Both have 4x digital zoom controls: wash
• Kodak has 1.5 hr typical battery life whereas Sony has 1 hr: Although this data is unconfirmed and a bot sketchy at best. Pricing out additional batteries (you’ll need them for long weekends) shows that the Kodak brand tend to be cheaper.  Kodak +.5
• Sony can use both SD cards (class 4) or Memory Dual Stick Pro: Sony +.5
• Both suck in low light conditions: wash
• Kodak takes ‘slightly better’ stand alone pics due to Sony’s delay between pressing the button and shot being taken.: Kodak +.25
• Kodak files don’t like MAC (I could care less), but Sony mounts three (3) drives when plugged into PC and doesn’t play with new Win 7 without converting the files, meaning extra steps if I move off of Win XP. Kodak: +.5
• In the audio tests I have heard, I think the Sony sounds better.  Both have mono mic’s, and neither has an external mic jack.  Sony: +.5 for personal taste.
• In the video tests I have seen, I also think the Sony has a richer and more saturated color and also sharper picture compared to the Kodak.: Sony +1
• Model color palette.  Kodak has 3 colors to choose from where as Sony has 4.  I could care less.: wash.
• Both shoot in 4 different quality modes: 1080p, 720 & 480 @ 30fps, and also 720 @ 60fps.: wash.
• While both have some internal memory, neither are enough to take anything credible, so expect to buy additional class 4 SD memory for both.: wash
• Kodak is $20 cheaper on all accounts: Kodak +1

So based on my completely unscientific rating system the final tally is: Kodak = 5.25, Sony = 4.  Actually that is quite surprising for me and this has been a real eye-opener.  It’s possible that in the long run the Kodak may be slightly easier to run in terms of video conversion to .WMV and cheaper batteries.  While I may never use the waterproof feature, I’m glad it’s there as friends may accidentally spill drinks on it and I won’t be afraid to use in the rain.  I also have a tendency to drop objects, so the rugged casing may be a bonus in my favor and of course the base cost makes it slightly more attractive as well.  I may miss Sony’s superior color and sound and slightly larger screen offerings though, but I now think I’m leaning towards the Kodak.

Taking all this into account, I may now be actually be leaning towards buying a Kodak Playsport.  Tell me what you think below in the comments.  I’ll hopefully purchase something by the end of this week.