I purchased this camera in December of 2005 to use to record the milestones of my then 6 month old son. I ended up using it sparingly, as the battery would drain quickly while not being used, so everytime I went to use it, I had to remember to charge it up. But that's not that uncommon with rechargeable batteries, so I got used to it.
The biggist issue that 22 months after I bought it (Halloween 2007), I went to record my son for Halloween and got an error message that said "Lens Cap", even though the lens cap was not on the camera. With a bit of online research, I came to find out that this was a problem with the CCD (the image sensor, I believe) and it was a known problem with JVC models and JVC was replacing/repairing units with specific model numbers. However, this model was not on the list, even though I found dozens of postings on line from people with the same problem with this camera. I was able to convince JVC to provide a free evaluation of the problem (they tyically charge $60). It was the optical block (of which the CCD is a part, so I'm not totally convinced it wasn't the CCD all along). They quoted over $280 for the repair. When I told them not to do it and to send the unit back as the repair is too expensive, they immediately lowered the price to $190 - a little sketchy in my mind. But, I went ahead with the repair. I haven't yet used the repaired unit, but will shortly as our second child is due in days.
I would recommend staying away from JVC as I don't feel I was dealt with fairly and evenly in this manner. Even though they did the free evaluation, I think the issue with the CCD is something they should have handled at no cost, since it was such a wide-spread problem. And the negotiating on the repair cost is pretty sketchy for a company the size of JVC - I expect that from a local yokel. I expect JVC to quote me the best price they can acheive.
