Panasonic DVD Camcorder, any good?

[shelly3girls]

I should first let you know that we are very basic people. We barely ever use our current Sony Hi-8 camcorder. We are very deterred by having to copy from the tape onto another tape, etc. To put it bluntly we are lazy when it comes to this stuff so I was looking for a camcorder that would simplify my life as much as possible. We will not do any editing. Our only goal is to actually tape the kids for home movies at school events, sports, etc.

So here are our primary concerns...
Easy to use
Good battery life
Decent recording time
Good picture
Small
Not Expensive (around $400)

The Panasonic VDR-V200 is on sale at BB for $350 (regularly $500) which seems like a good deal to me. Will this camera fit my needs. Will a very amateur person be happy with this camera?

TIA!

 

[Anewman]

I am confident that the camera will be better than your old camera in all of the areas you mentioned.

I could not find specs for it and it was not on the BB website, but they did have the V100(burns to DVD). So I am guessing the v200 also burns to DVD. I would say just make sure to use Good quality media, and store them properly.