What if?

They included an FM radio with preset stations
An optical view finder
Some 4X level of optical zooming
Ensured constant production quality (early production line was crap)

Then it would be worth buying, even at a higher price.

Hope Mustek engineering read this, and act on it for the announced revamp of the product in August 2005.

I strongly agree this camera sucks. The time stamp has a mind of it's own and regularly changes to a random time stamp. The controls are extremely difficult to use. Amazon was kind enough to replace it but the replacement has all the same problems. Mustek's suggestion to shut off the auto-focus during video recording had no effect. The playback was still noisy with clicks and burps. This piece of junk deserves 0 stars. If you think the zoom feature is continuous you will be disappointed. The zoom function click stops at four zoom levels only which looks ridiculous on playback. Every single function sucks and there is absolutely no use for this camera. Please save yourself the aggravation and DON'T BUY THIS CAMERA!!!!!

when I received the camera it had a great solid feel,charged the battery shot some video footage,the main reason for buying it,I wasn't interested in the other functions long story short,the motor has a very loud noise during the taping & watching playback,the worst part was turning it off, it had a mind of it's own, sent it back, hope this review helprd!

This camera sucks, I'm on my second camera and it still sucks. The video (which can only be filmed in asf format) keeps crashing my video editing software. I create animations for multimedia and know there is no fault with my system. The shutter placement means the 7 out of 10 pictures are blurry. MP3 playback is real tinny. I have no use for it, my supplier is refusing to admit that it doesn't do what it says on the box. I may stamp on it to get some kind of satisfaction from it. I think all the positive reviews here are written by one crank!

first one i bought never worked. second one worked for 1 day. don't buy it! I've wasted more money on shipping it back and forth than anything else. Mustek sucks. They're technical support staff even seems to know the product sucks.

i repeat DO NOT BUY IT

I purchased a smaller Mustek camera last year to take to Iraq. Great but did not last being run over by a HUMMV. I liked the small camera so I purchased the DV5500 as the replacement. I find that the controls all located in the one button on the rear of the camera are very senitive and hard to get to the right screen when you need them the most. The fact that the DV and the picture button are in two differnet locations was also difficult to someone who wants to take the camera and just start shooting. THe video quality is ok but the long lag time for focus is not suited for someone who needs results - like going on combat patrols and getting GOOD images! I did like the larger LCD screen and the fact that it rotates. The camera was much bigger than what I was looking for - but for the price it does take good pictures. For someone looking for a small camera that fits in your pocket I would suggest the Sony DSC T1 that does all the things this camera does and fits in the pocket - but of course is twice the price! For the price and what it can do and if you have patience and time to learn the features it is a good camera for the price - if you have non of the above - DO not buy this version of this camera wait for Mustek to catch Sony in development and bring the price down!

The DV5500 is junk; do not buy. First, all inputs,
controls and fittings are sloppy and poorly made ( a
button/dial/knob etc. had to be "worked" in order to
get it to function; when it fundtioned at all. The
camera failed in operation within a month; would not
turn on or accept a charge. It was returned for service
following all prpper protocals. All I received for my
efforts was the same broken camera back - and something
more for my efforts. They had swiped the battery and
chip out of the camera to use elesewhere; your camera?
Can you believe that? They returned it missing the
battery and chip along with a preprinted form stating
there is nothing wrong with the unit. MUSTEK - NO !!!!

If you want a "good" digital camera, dont buy this one. Its ok for close ups only. You can play with taking different pictures like: negative, sepia, black & white, solarized, plastel, regular and sketch photos. If you scrapbook and want a different look for your layouts, this is ok. But this is about all I use it for. The buttons and dials are so small and very easy to hit something else because there so sensative. It says digital zoom is 4X but then its so grainy you cant see well. And make sure what-ever you are taking pics of is really well lit or that wont work either. Better yet, just take outside pics.

This camera is okay as long as you are willing to send it for repairs immediately after you get it because it will probably break down quickly. I sent it several weeks after getting it and received it back repaired and it has been fine since (5 months)It is an ok camera for quick shots and video you may or may not want to keep. The video is equal to something you would get streamed on the internet in asf or wmv format. Overall I am pretty pleased with the camera after the repairs.

I've had this camera for 6 days and I have already had to return it. It wouldn't stay on.....just kept shutting off. Mustek kept giving me the run around when I tried to return it, and then had the nerve to ask for 3 copies of my receipt. I can't tell ya how well the camera performs cause I haven't had the chancec to use it, but so far its a big fat Zero.

The DV5500 is a piece of garbage _ the day I got it it wouldn't focus right and I called for help and they told me I was shaking and that's why pictures weren't clear, I used the tripod and took a video and it did improve somewhat, I put the camera in it's docking station and about 5 months later tried to use it again and found out it WAS NOT FOCUSING AT ALL so I called them again, the FIRST thing they asked was WHEN I bought it and since it was over a year, they said it was OUT OF WARRANTY and they DID NOT FIX any out of warrantry cameras, in other words THROW it AWAY because no one else does either. I wouldn't buy another MUSTEK product if they gave it away

I am really impressed with the quality of both the still images and the Video that this camera is capable of producing. It's like I bought the Sony DCR DVD505 for half the price! I definitely think that it's worth the money. It also looks very stylish and I love the docking function.

I bought this camera 2 years ago and I have had no functionality problems. The reason I give it a 4 is because of the price.

Granted, it has no optical zoom (but my limited knowledge at the time that I bought it kept that from disturbing me), so if you want to zoom in, it's better just to try to get close to whatever you're taking a picture of. Despite it being a somewhat low MP, the quality of the pictures are quite nice. I've been pleased with it. However, it is not so good with action pictures. It does better when you have it in the action setting, but it still has issues sometimes. Great for portraits. No need to worry about dark pictures, the flash is crazy strong. Sometimes it's better not to use the flash, even when in slightly dim light.

The video quality is so-so, but works for the sake of taking small segments of whatever you need to record (though I think the microphone being on top of the camera is a slight design flaw). I have a number of videos that are worth keeping.

The voice recording has proved useful. My husband used to take recordings of my orchestra concerts from quite far away in the auditorium, and the quality came out pretty decently. You need to make sure that you aren't tapping the camera or shifting around too much when doing so, but setting the camera down on something and recording works well.

If you have a large enough memory card, the mp3 player is useful. I think it's a fun little feature.

I used it as a webcam a couple of times. The only real flaw with that is that when the USB cord is plugged into the front, it pulls the camera down, so you have to be careful and position it effectively on the tripod while using that function.

I like that it comes with AV cords to hook up to the tv. And the rechargable battery is one feature that I will look for in future cameras because I hate replacing batteries and it lasts longer than regular rechargable AAs or AAAs (whatever the camera might take). The buttons on it are a little tough to deal with sometimes because the arrows are sensitive and the buttons on the inside of the screen aren't quite sensitive enough. But once you get the hang of it, it's fine.

Basically, after two years of owning it and using it thoroughly, I would like something with newer technology (more MP, nice optical zoom, that sort of thing), but I would still keep this camera as a secondary. When I bought it, it was $175, and I think it was well worth it.

It has been almost 15 months since I received one of these as part of a large conference promotional give away. I can honestly say this camera is terrible in every aspect.

At the conference, about 650 of these cameras were distributed to attendees. The new out of box failure rate was over 10%. Those units had to be returned for a new one and a few of those had to be returned.

The camera has a cheap feel throughout with a noticeable poor build quality. From the buttons to the plastic door covering access to the battery and SD card to the lens and LCD screen.

Video quality compares to my camera phone which is unusable in poor light and mediocre in bright sunlight. About the only good thing you can say would be the ease of making small clips and then uploading them from the SD card to the web. They are recorded in a ready to use mpeg format. Audio is ok but there is no option for an external microphone.

The battery life is also poor and it doesn't hold a charge over several weeks between uses. Any use must be planned in 12 hours advance to allow for charging.

Honestly, you can find true video cameras such as Canon MiniDV - Canon ZR800 MiniDV Camcorder with 35x Optical Zoom
- models on Amazon for a few pennies more and feature rich models for about double. Look for them and skip the Mustek. (If the price point was about 29.95 then I would give it 5 stars. Instead it gets one.)