This will be a ramble
question: How good is the battery?, context: This will be a ramble - I am generally well satisfied with this product but there are a few things to be aware of.  Firstly, I purchased the product as a refurbished unit and only paid $75 including shipping - I added two additional batteries quite inexpensively through eBay.It is easily portable and seems to have fairly good battery time - here's a sample of 720 P quality - not bad.  [...]I suspect that this is a generic criticism as the small microphones embedded in this type of a video recorder has no resistance to wind.  What you can expect is that if you are moving and experience when passing across the microphone you will get wind noise.My original intention was to use this video camera on my bicycle and to that end, I constructed a helmet cam mount.  This would probably work but I found that the additional weight on top of my helmet was unacceptable - the camera weighs 4.4 ounces - seemingly trivial but noticeable on top of your head.  At five megapixels, the still picture capability is adequate but nothing special.  I chose to get a ZX3 as opposed to the newer ZX5 - there were several reasons for this choice:The ZX3 has removable batteries, the five does not.  The charge coupled device is larger on the ZX three and quite a few sophisticated reviewers felt that the ZX five was a downgrade in some respects.  And then there was the issue of a dramatically lower price.Summarizing, this camera is good enough and portable enough that I will often carry the camera in situations where I would have been lugging my Canon T1 I.  Go for it! 
How good is the battery?
This will be a ramble - I am generally well satisfied with this product but there are a few things to be aware of.
This will be a ramble - I am generally well satisfied with this product but there are a few things to be aware of.  Firstly, I purchased the product as a refurbished unit and only paid $75 including shipping - I added two additional batteries quite inexpensively through eBay.It is easily portable and seems to have fairly good battery time - here's a sample of 720 P quality - not bad.  [...]I suspect that this is a generic criticism as the small microphones embedded in this type of a video recorder has no resistance to wind.  What you can expect is that if you are moving and experience when passing across the microphone you will get wind noise.My original intention was to use this video camera on my bicycle and to that end, I constructed a helmet cam mount.  This would probably work but I found that the additional weight on top of my helmet was unacceptable - the camera weighs 4.4 ounces - seemingly trivial but noticeable on top of your head.  At five megapixels, the still picture capability is adequate but nothing special.  I chose to get a ZX3 as opposed to the newer ZX5 - there were several reasons for this choice:The ZX3 has removable batteries, the five does not.  The charge coupled device is larger on the ZX three and quite a few sophisticated reviewers felt that the ZX five was a downgrade in some respects.  And then there was the issue of a dramatically lower price.Summarizing, this camera is good enough and portable enough that I will often carry the camera in situations where I would have been lugging my Canon T1 I.  Go for it! 
<hl> This will be a ramble <hl> - I am generally well satisfied with this product but there are a few things to be aware of.
<hl> This will be a ramble <hl> - I am generally well satisfied with this product but there are a few things to be aware of. Firstly, I purchased the product as a refurbished unit and only paid $75 including shipping - I added two additional batteries quite inexpensively through eBay.It is easily portable and seems to have fairly good battery time - here's a sample of 720 P quality - not bad. [...]I suspect that this is a generic criticism as the small microphones embedded in this type of a video recorder has no resistance to wind. What you can expect is that if you are moving and experience when passing across the microphone you will get wind noise.My original intention was to use this video camera on my bicycle and to that end, I constructed a helmet cam mount. This would probably work but I found that the additional weight on top of my helmet was unacceptable - the camera weighs 4.4 ounces - seemingly trivial but noticeable on top of your head. At five megapixels, the still picture capability is adequate but nothing special. I chose to get a ZX3 as opposed to the newer ZX5 - there were several reasons for this choice:The ZX3 has removable batteries, the five does not. The charge coupled device is larger on the ZX three and quite a few sophisticated reviewers felt that the ZX five was a downgrade in some respects. And then there was the issue of a dramatically lower price.Summarizing, this camera is good enough and portable enough that I will often carry the camera in situations where I would have been lugging my Canon T1 I. Go for it! 
<hl> This will be a ramble - I am generally well satisfied with this product but there are a few things to be aware of. <hl> Firstly, I purchased the product as a refurbished unit and only paid $75 including shipping - I added two additional batteries quite inexpensively through eBay. It is easily portable and seems to have fairly good battery time - here's a sample of 720 P quality - not bad. [...]I suspect that this is a generic criticism as the small microphones embedded in this type of a video recorder has no resistance to wind. What you can expect is that if you are moving and experience when passing across the microphone you will get wind noise. My original intention was to use this video camera on my bicycle and to that end, I constructed a helmet cam mount. This would probably work but I found that the additional weight on top of my helmet was unacceptable - the camera weighs 4.4 ounces - seemingly trivial but noticeable on top of your head. At five megapixels, the still picture capability is adequate but nothing special. I chose to get a ZX3 as opposed to the newer ZX5 - there were several reasons for this choice:The ZX3 has removable batteries, the five does not. The charge coupled device is larger on the ZX three and quite a few sophisticated reviewers felt that the ZX five was a downgrade in some respects. And then there was the issue of a dramatically lower price. Summarizing, this camera is good enough and portable enough that I will often carry the camera in situations where I would have been lugging my Canon T1 I. Go for it!