Coby Electronics CAM3000

By: Paula Slade

With the holidays fast approaching and the economy still uncertain, parents and caregivers are continuing to search for value-oriented items in the realm of children’s entertainment.

The products that are featured below have been researched for quality as well as comparative value and have the ability to provide the young people in your life with many hours of positive and fun-filled entertainment.

Today we take a look a very competitively priced selection of portable, handheld digital camcorders, the “SNAPP” product line, which is manufactured by Coby Electronics and offers an excellent design plus consumer-friendly features that are priced from $39.99 to $99.99 Suggested Retail Price (SRP.)

The “Suggested Retail Price" (SRP) is established by the manufacturer and has been provided for each of the items, allowing you to cross-compare with various on-line as well as stick and brick retailers. (Oftentimes, you may find these items slightly below or very close to the SRP.)

As always, you are the best judge of what is appropriate for your child’s entertainment, hobbies or pastimes.

Coby Electronics CAM3000 – Mini Digital Camcorder – SRP: $39.99

This is an extremely affordable entry-level product that has an easy -to-use “bar-style” design and offers features not normally expected in products in this price range. The other features included are:

1.5” TFT LCD full color display1.3MP CMOS sensor (1280 x 960) with LED for low-light situations
4x digital zoom
32MB built-in memory, SD/SDHC card slot expandable up to 8GB
USB 2.0 Port
4x “AAA” batteries (included) with over 4 hours of battery life
Arcsoft™ Media Impression for editing and uploading video to YouTube™
Video resolution: VGA (640 x 480) @ 30fps, AVI file, codec: Motion JPEG
Up to 2 hours of video recording with use of 4GB SDHC card (not included.)

Coby Electronics CAM4000 –Digital Camcorder – SRP: $59.99

A fine mid-level option, Coby’s CAM4000 features a sizeable 2.4” LCD flip screen that folds compactly into a sleek handheld unit, with additional features that include:

2.4” TFT LCD full color display
3MP CMOS sensor (2000 x 1504) with photoflash
4x digital zoom
32MB built-in memory, SD/SDHC card slot expandable up to 8GB
USB 2.0 hi-speed
3x “AAA” batteries (included) with over 1.5 hours of battery life
Arcsoft™ Media Impression for editing and uploading video to YouTube™
Video resolution: VGA (640 x 480) @ 30fps, AVI file, codec: Motion JPEG
Up to 2 hours of video recording with use of 4GB SDHC card (not included)

Coby Electronics CAM5000 –Mini HD Digital Camcorder – SRP: $99.99

A stylish digital camcorder, the CAM5000 has unique HD capability and 128 MB of built-in memory. Other features that are included are:

2.0” TFT LCD full color display
5MP CMOS sensor (2584 x 1936) with LED for low-light situations
4x digital zoom
128MB built-in memory, SD/SDHC card slot expandable up to 8GB
Integrated USB port
Removable/rechargeable lithium-ion battery with 2 hours of battery life
Arcsoft™ Media Impression for editing and uploading video to YouTube™
HD video resolution 720p (1280 x 720) @ 30fps, MPEG-4
Up to 4 hours of video recording with use of 4GB SDHC card (not included)

If you found this article to be helpful, you may want to read about other gift ideas for different age groups and interests, which include the following:

Chanukah Fever' CD hits the right temperature

Highlights' magazine: Entertaining children for over 60 years

2009 Holiday Gift Guide: Children's storybooks on DVD

2009 Holiday Gift Guide: 'Edutainment' gifts for the preschool set

2009 Holiday Gift Guide: Children's dolls

‘A Family Christmas' :Putumayo presents holiday favorites CD