The Everio has a roughly cubical shape and is held horizontally. It's very light, weighing only about 12 oz (350 grams. There's no viewfinder, only a 1.8" (4.5 cm) LCD display built into the body. The Microdrive ejects upwards.
The central part of the camcorder can rotate, letting you turn the display 90° to hold the unit above the heads of a crowd.
Despite the Everio's very attractive appearance, the ergonomics aren't very good. We had trouble holding the camcorder and operating the buttons with one hand.
Turning the camcorder on, on the other hand, is as easy as falling off a log. The on/off switch located on the side also switches between camera and playback modes. Startup time is three seconds.
Adjustments are fairly limited. White balance is adjustable manually to one of five profiles (auto, interior, exterior, halogen, cloudy) and exposure to -6 to +6 dB. There's no choice of shutter speed, and only three AE programs (Sports, Snow, and Spotlight).
Note that there is a vertical version of the Everio, the GZ-MC100, which is much simpler and also less expensive.
Stay On the Cutting Edge: Get the Tom's Hardware Newsletter
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
