Camcorder--battery questions

[2boys'mom]

I saw the camcorder thread below. We have a Sharp fromabout 5 years ago. It still works fine. the problem is the batteries. Even fresh replacement batteries last only about 10 minutes. They are about $60 also. At my son's preK graduation, only me an another Sharp owner were hooked up to extension cords.

I see a lot of Sony recommendations. What kind of battery recording length of time are you all getting with and without your screens on? Whether I would use it more if the battery was working is a real question. If freshly charged, I may get 5minutes recording time.

Thanks in advance.