MyFamilyClub - Money Saving Made Easy

Whether it’s your child’s first steps or precious holiday moments, capturing those magic memories are important. A good but cheap camcorder is a great addition to a household and massive savings can be made by choosing the right retailer. You'll find discounts of over £120 with the Samsung featured.

Memory tips

Your camera may not come with much built-in memory, if so it's worth investing in a memory card, often reasonably priced with Amazon, making sure you check which type of card your camcorder supports. As a rough guide to what size memory card you require it’s worth checking with this handy memory use calculator.

Under £100

From your pocket to actually filming need only be seconds with the Kodak Playsport ZX5, allowing you to capture that classic moment that’s so often missed. This cheap camcorder will upload your masterpiece on Facebook or Twitter with a ‘Kodak Share’ button doing most of the work. You can click on to Amazon and buy the ‘Aqua’ colour camcorder for £70 (other colours available at different prices), closely followed by Red Onions costing £75.95.

Model: Kodak Playsport ZX5

Special features:

• Full HD
• 5MP stills
• Share button for social media
• SD/DSHC card slot to increase the memory up to 32GB

Highest Price: £112.81

Best deal: Amazon for £70

Runner up: Red Onions for £75.95

The Toshiba Camileo P100 is a cheap camcorder with full HD capability and a 5x optical zoom. You can share your videos and pictures with direct USB connectivity to your computer, uploading to Facebook, Picasa and You Tube. Dixons and Amazon top the best buy list at £84.90, with Dixons currently offering 20% off a case when you purchase the camcorder from them.

Model: Toshiba Camileo P100

Special features:

• Full HD
• 5x optical zoom
• 3” touchscreen

Highest Price: £147.97

Joint best deal: Dixons and Amazon at £84.90.

Under £150

The Samsung HMX-F80BP has a 52x optical zoom. Hook this machine up to your HD TV and watch both your video clips and photos. You can even add your favourite soundtrack via its Smart Background Music II feature that lowers the volume of the music when people speak. Digital Fusion take the gold at £137.52 including delivery, whilst Laskys take silver medal at £145, infinitely better than the eye-watering £249 charged by one large retailer.

Model: Samsung HMX-F80BP

Special features:

• 52x optical zoom
• 2.7” screen
• Add background music

Highest Price: £249

Best deal: Digital Fusion for £137.52

Runner Up: Laskys for £145

The Panasonic HX-DC2 has a 15x intelligent zoom and can double up as a still camera with up to 14-megapixels. The 'pistol grip' makes it easy to take ‘on the move’ pictures. You can snap it up at either Comet or Dixons for £125.20.

Model: Panasonic HX-DC2

Special features:

• Full HD
• 5x optical zoom and 15x intelligent zoom
• 14 megapixel still photos
• 3” screen

Highest Price: £159.71

Joint best deal: Comet or Dixons for £125.20

Under £200

The Sony HDR-CX190 has a 25x optical zoom and with its low light CMOS sensor helps both capture results in dimmer conditions and fast moving action. This camcorder via Dual Capture, will simultaneously record video and still images. Both Amazon and Comet beat the £259.99 elsewhere by offering £184.99, however until August 29 Sony offer a cash-back scheme allowing you to claim a further £30 after you buy the camera.

Model: Sony HDR-CX190

Special features:

• Full HD
• 25x optical zoom
• Carl Zeiss Lens

Highest Price: £259.99

Joint best deal: Amazon and Comet for £184.99 plus £30 cash-back.

Prices tend to change rapidly, so if you find different or better prices, or want to sing the praises of your own cheap camcorder, please put your comments below.

We’d love to hear from you if there’s a particular product you want some price checks on. Email editorial@myfamilyclub.co.uk – we’ll pick the most popular requests.

Marc Lockley is a coach and money saving writer. He is the author of How To Pay Less For More, a book showing people how to negotiate in shops, showrooms and even with the boss over working part-time. As a dad of two, Marc values his work/life balance and is a dab hand at using money saving techniques to keep the bills down.