When you are in the market for a camcorder there are many brands and types to choose from. First you have to decide how much you have to spend. If money is  not a big deal and you want the best then look for 3CCD camcorders. They use 3 chips for each color instead of one chip for all three colors combined. They have a much better color and picture but cost a lot more. Prices start at around $1000 up to several grand easily. These are more for serious and professionals only. For most regular people that is too much to pay for a camcorder.

They're are mainly 3 types of camcorder made today which are DVD camcorders, Hardrive camcorders, or Mini DV camcorders. You will see some older format technology sold on Ebay such as Hi-8, VHS, compact VHS but these are all on the way out. However they can be found for very cheap and if you aren't picky then they just might be right for you.

Prices:$350-$600

Dvd camcorders are nice and convenient because they record right onto mini dvds so they are no tapes to rewind like Mini DV and other tape formats. Also it has time stamp and bookmarks so you can easily pick which scenes to play back.

Prices $$300-$500

Mini DV camcorder are cheaper than dvd camcorders since they are older technology and have been out longer. Mini DV camcorders are all mostly small in size however dealing with tape can be annoying and time consuming plus you can't just give the tape to someone and let them watch it on their tv or dvd player like the DVD camcorder.

Prices $500-$900

 Hard drive/Flash drive camcorders are the new rage. You can save hours of footage on 20gb, 30, 40 gb  models. Most of these camcorders are exceptionally small since there are no tape or dvd drives to deal with or buy which save you a lot of money in the long run. The price is a lot higher than Mini DV camcorders and a little higher than DVD camcorders.

$100-$200 Flash drive is like the hard drive so I included in the same category. Flash drive are usually much smaller in capacity so they usually only take 1 hour or less of footage but are the smaller camcorders out there. However most flash drive camcorders are more like toys and are a joke. When it comes to camcorders stand away from no names and stick to brand names. You want to remember your memories with good quaility not a blurry mess.

The two I would say to go for today is DVD camcorders and Hard drive camcorders.

DVD camcorder Good:

After shooting scene can play in most dvd players and computers right away without having to save to pc.

Can play the right scene right away without searching

Small and good picture recording

The Bad:

Dvd discs are costly but price is coming down. Have to be certain types of disc mostly DVD+Ram discs.

Discs can get scratched and ruin footage making disc unplayable.

Mini DV camcorder The Good:

Cheapest of the camcorders made today

Small

The Bad:

Old technology

Bad resale value

Expensive tapes

Take forever to download to PC

Hard Drive camcorder the good:

No tapes or dvd needed ever!

Can shot hours opon hours without running out of space

small size

transfer to pc or dvd easily

The Bad:

Most expensive of the three

can't play footage on dvd players right away like dvd camcorders