The Good: We've had our 201 for two years now, and have been happy with the video performance and features. The still cam is weak, but with the specs on it, it's more of a convenience than something one would want to depend on. Perfectly appropriate for the price at the time we bought it. The bad: The hand strap attach point broke off, and the GE extended warranty won't cover what they consider a non-functional part. There are 4 strap attach points, 3 metal, one plastic, and that's the one that let go. Without the hand strap, you'd have to hold the camera with both hands to use it. The case is very thin, and no other physical attachment exists internally. I also found a report of someone buying 8 PV51 cameras (similar to this one), and three of them broke in the exact same place as mine. Still waiting to hear from Panasonic, but I'm betting since it's out of warranty I'm out of luck. And I'm going to cancel my worthless GE warranty policy as well.

Update to previous reviews. The driver for win2000 or winXP is available NOW on panasonic website. With Firewire, WinXP actually detected it and it's plug and play.

I have used this camera for more than 2 years. I LOVE it.

1. There's no gap between clips. Canon ZR shows blue screen on playback every time you hit the pause button when recording - REALLY annoying. This one just stitch the clips together nicely.
2. Transfer to computer with firewire or USB really simple, easy to use. TIPS: you can get firewire card with cable for less than $20 now.
3. Handling is excellent - nice grip, light weight.
4. Long battery life. I was planning to buy a spare and found out no need for it.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

when i took it out the box....IT FELT CHEAP
The battery life needs more power. Panasonic has yet to come out with a driver for XP. The still images are compared to a PHD camera (push here dummy). This is a low end model. As far as video goes....i love it. I have had nothing but fun and thrills. If you can get it for...cheaper than list.... it really is a good deal. I would suggest holding out though

This camera is way less then i expect.
colors are dull, and recording feature sounds
like a tin can. it may not be the most expensive
camera out there but i expected more for the cost.

I've used the camera for about three months. It is everything I expected. I wanted a lightweight, small, easy to use camera with the ability to take still photos. The video picture quality is very good. The stills are pretty good considering this is a low end model.
I use Windows ME and the software provided is very, very good and easy to use. It would have been nice to be able to plug in a better mike but you can't. Also I'm left-handed and like most cameras for us, the buttons are a little hard to use.

Overall I don't think you will go wrong buying this camera. If you have Windows XP I would contact Panansonic to see if there are upgrades for the software.