Pocket a Creative Vado camcorder for $39.99
You think your job is hard? I had to narrow down three potential deals for today. Three!
Woot.com's refurbished 10.1-inch Acer netbook for $229.99 (plus $5 shipping) was a strong contender, but I know lots of you visit Woot already--and many more of you are sick of Netbooks. (Awesome, awesome deal, though.)
Then I considered the refurbished 2GB Sansa Clip MP3 player: $19.99 shipped at Buy.com. Mighty sweet.
Ultimately, I settled on the Creative Labs Vado pocket camcorder, which Dell has for $39.99 shipped.
Although this isn't the newer HD model, it's perfectly good for shooting YouTube-ready, VGA-quality video. And it can hold up to 60 minutes of it at the high-quality setting or 2 hours at "SP."
I love these little camcorders, which are easy to toss in a pocket, glove box, or wherever for capturing life's little moments.
CNET had mostly good things to say about the Vado, which is noteworthy for its built-in USB connector, onboard software, and one-touch uploading to YouTube.
This is a new unit, not a refurb, so it comes with a full one-year warranty. It regularly sells for at least $85, so $40 shipped is hard to beat. Great gift item!
Dell deals often expire or sell out without warning, so if this sounds good to you, act fast. (And if it does sell out, well, you've got the aforementioned runners-up. See? I'm always thinking ahead. Well, starting now, I am.)
Rick Broida, a technology writer for nearly 20 years, is the author of more than a dozen books. In addition to writing CNET's The Cheapskate blog, he oversees BNET's Business Hacks. Rick is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CBS Interactive. Disclosure. Deals found on The Cheapskate are subject to availability, expiration, and other terms determined by sellers. Follow Rick on Twitter at cheapskateblog. 
Feature
Description
Weight: 84g (with battery)
Dimension (H x W x D): 3.9" x 2.2" x 0.6" (100 mm x 55 mm x 16 mm)
Memory size: 2 GB
Sensor: VGA CMOS (640 x 480)
Video quality (pixels): 640 x 480
Low light performance: Extremely high sensitivity at 3.8V/lux-sec
LCD: 2" (50.8 mm) diagonal, 16 million colors
Screen resolution (pixels): 640 x 240
Zoom: 2x Digital Zoom
Recording capacity: 120 minutes (good quality), 60 minutes (excellent quality)
Digital video format: MPEG-4 AVI at 30 frames per second
Speaker and microphone: Built-in
Software: Built-in
TV out: Yes
Tripod mount: Yes
Power saver: Yes
Delete all, Play all: Yes
Set Date/Time: Yes
Set frequency: Yes (50Hz or 60Hz)
PC connection: Built-in flexi USB connector
Battery life: 130 minutes
Online sharing: YouTube?, Photobucket?
Alternatively, JR was selling a Coby pocket digital camcorder 640x480 SD slot for 20 bucks.
Both offer crap video. I suggest getting a HD quality one.
Not long ago OfficeDepot was selling brand new 2gb Sansa Clip for under 20 bucks.
Why would anyone want to buy a refurb for the same price? I got one on Craigslist for 10 bucks.
Ease up! Rick finds some pretty good deals at no cost to you, except for your time, and if 1 min to read his post is that painful, don't.
Some websites have been selling brand new 2gb Vado $40 for a long time.
Sorry for the misunderstanding.
I have benefited from Rick's deals from time to time. I enjoy reading his blog.
Keep up the good work, Rick!
- by forgettfuldude2 October 18, 2009 1:36 PM PDT
- the vado deal has been around for quite a while... i stumbled onto it about a month ago and ordered one. so far, I haven't found any use for the camcorder but i couldn't resist the deal and i wanted to add a small camcorder to my bag of nikon gear, just in case. overall, for $40 you cant go wrong.
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