Sanyo Xacti VPC-E2 Reviews

I loved this camera when I first got it. I brought it on a tubing trip down a river with a load of friends (there were like 12 of us that day I guess?), and got some great pictures and video with it. The closeups were awesome, the zoom was nice. I did take a few underwater pictures, but not many. I love the way it fits in your hand! Very easy to hold in action situations. But then..

I brought it home and was playing around in the pool we have with it, following this little wind-up toy we have that swims around. I was going from above water to underwater every couple minutes, and not leaving it under for more than 30 seconds at a time. The pool was only 3.5 ft deep, and it never touched the bottom, but after about 20 minutes, it died, while underwater.

Fearing the worst, I quickly picked it up and checked to make sure the battery cover tab was pushed down (which creates the seal with the gasket). It was, so I got out and toweled it off, and pulled the battery compartment open. There were drops of water on the inside, like there had been a slow leak happening. Bummer..

So I let it dry for a few hours (about 8 hours) without touching it, the battery or anything. I put the battery on the charger after I was sure it was dry, and the charger lit up like it was charging it. After the charger light went off, I put the battery in the camera, and tried it. Nothing happened. Dead camera.

So I got in touch with Amazon about returning it (these guys are great about returns!), and brought it to the UPS store to return it. The girl at the UPS store said that was the THIRD ONE THAT WEEK that was being returned, all because of water damage.

Now that said, this camera is obviously supposed to be waterproof, but I think you'd be chancing it to keep it underwater for longer than 20-30 seconds at a time, which is pretty lame since it claims to be waterPROOF, not resistant. I'm sure it would also be a great one to bring to the beach to keep sand from getting in the works of it also, but I noticed that a little did get in the hinge between the screen and the camera body itself, making a grinding noise occur when it was adjusted until I washed it out.

So, I can't recommend this camera, because there's another one just like it by the same company and priced less and doesn't claim to be waterproof, because obviously neither one of them are.Get more detail about Sanyo Xacti VPC-E2 Digital Camcorder and 8 MP Digital Camera (Blue).