JVC Everio GZ-HM1

With the GZ-HM1, JVC took a look at its flagship camcorder from last year and made only the slightest of updates: the implementation of a back-illuminated CMOS sensor. While this adjustment may only sound minor, the resulted improvement in low light performance was quite drastic. The JVC GZ-HM1 offered much better low light sensitivity, less noise, and produced none of the green discolouration we saw on JVC's flagship camcorder from last year (the GZ-HM400).

Other than this sensor redesign, the only significant differences between the GZ-HM1 and last year's GZ-HM400 are a new silver paint job and a doubling of internal memory to 64GB. The two camcorders have the same shape, weight, and button design, and there are only a few features—like a Time Lapse Record setting—that are newly implemented on the GZ-HM1. We don't bemoan the fact that JVC didn't offer a plethora of updates to the GZ-HM1, as the GZ-HM400 was already a very solid camcorder with a glaring weakness in low light. The fact that JVC put all of its energy into addressing this low light issue is rather impressive, and the improved low light performance on the GZ-HM1 speaks for itself.

Still, the GZ-HM1 does fall behind the competition when it comes to design. It doesn't have an electronic viewfinder and it features the smallest LCD among flagship camcorders from the major manufacturers. The GZ-HM1 also feels rather cheap, and its control dial isn't as smooth or precise as what you get on models from Sony, Canon, and Panasonic.

We're also somewhat surprised that JVC upped the price on the GZ-HM1 to £1199, which is roughly £200 more than the list price of last year's GZ-HM400 (our runner-up for best value camcorder in 2009). This puts the GZ-HM1 in the middle of the pack as far as the cost of flagship camcorders go, and it makes it difficult to recommend the GZ-HM1 over the cheaper (and more impressive) Panasonic HDC-TM700. If only JVC had kept the price low like it did last year we'd be able to recommend the GZ-HM1 more readily.