Video camcorder storage has been in a state of flux for a while, as technologies have vied to take the place of digital tapes, once the storage medium of preference. There have been camcorders with recordable CD and DVD drives built in, but there's now a trend towards higher capacity memory cards, usually SD.

Firebox has recently introduced the Aiptek Z300HD-V to its range of gadgets and technology, and this device can take up to 32GB of SD storage, enough to hold 16 hours of HD video. The Li-ion battery only gives an hour's recording at a time, though, so you may need to carry a spare. You'll also need to buy an SD card pretty much straight away, as there's only 6MB of internal memory in the device.

The camera is a pistol-grip rather than telescope-grip device, not much bigger than a digital stills camera. It's very comfortable to use and easy to hold steady when panning or zooming. A 61mm LCD monitor folds up and swivels from the side of the camcorder's body and gives a reasonable image, though hard to see in strong sunlight and dotted with a lot of function icons.

Controls mainly fall under your thumb, on the back of the device, and include a multi-function mini joystick for things like flash and macro settings. There are dedicated buttons to toggle recording on and off and to take stills, using the 5-megapixel CMOS sensor. There's also a slide-switch to operate the 3x optical zoom, which is a little slow to work and not really enough magnification.

While the Z300HD-V can record at HD resolutions, as is claimed, HD is a broad spec, covering resolutions of 1024 x 768 up to 1920 x 1080 and beyond to 3840 x 2160 (quad HDTV). The Z300HD-V records at 1280 x 720 at 30Hz (720p30), near the bottom end of the range.

Video quality is fair in good light, but tends to be over-dark in low light, or over-exposed if you use the built-in light source. Compression artefacts are also apparent when there's a lot of movement in shot, though things have to be pretty busy for this to happen.

Aiptek provides cables to connect component video output to PC or TV and to recharge the battery from USB or directly from the mains. There's a remote control, too, so you can direct playback from the MOV-packaged MPEG 4 files the camcorder creates. Output is compatible with Quicktime and Media Player, via a supplied decoder. A soft carrying bag is provided, which is just as well, as there's no separate covering for the lens.

The Z300HD-V has been well designed to be easy to use and offer a reasonable range of control. What you miss on this camera - which is around half the price of solid-state camcorders from big names like Panasonic - is image quality. While it's good in strong light, it's not so good indoors. As for the HD, you could show video from this camcorder on your 42-inch plasma TV, but it wouldn't do the screen justice.