Canon's new flagship model, the HF S21, has a lot of exciting new features and controls. Its 64GB of internal flash memory, two SD/SDHC memory card slots, and the touchscreen LCD make the HF S21 one of the most appealing camcorders of 2010.

January 7, 2010 – This morning, JVC announced its 2010 lineup, including a new flagship camcorder: the Everio GZ-HM1. The HM1 borrows many features from last year's excellent GZ-HM400, while upgrading the sensor and stabilization system.

Panasonic really went to town updating the internal specs for its new mid-range HD camcorder line. The HDC-SD60 features a larger, 1/4.1-inch CMOS sensor, and it includes a 25x optical zoom lens (up from 16x on last year's models).

The HF S21 is Canon's flagship camcorder for 2010. The camcorder has the same lens and sensor as last year's HF S series from Canon, but this new model includes an impressive 3.5-inch LCD touchscreen, as well as a handy electronic viewfinder. The HF S21 also features—for the first time in AVCHD—a native 24p record mode.

The JVC Everio GZ-HM1 is the company's new flagship camcorder. This model borrows heavily from the excellent features found on last year's GZ-HM400, while introducing a couple new ideas for 2010. Among the numerous improvements you'll see this year are an Advanced Image Stabilizer and back-illuminated sensor.

The Everio GZ-HM400 is JVC´s top camcorder, and a much more advanced version of the X900. Both have more or less the same specs, but the HM400 includes 32GB of internal flash memory and all the manual controls that were missing on the X900. There is even a magnificent control dial for focus and a stellar zoom rocker. The Laser Touch System continues to be frustrating for more advanced operation, but the HM400 is otherwise an impressive camcorder.

At first sight the Picsio GC-FM1, JVC's new ultra-compact camcorder, seems to be just another Flip competition. Beneath the metallic lustre, however,  the Picsio impressed us with an outstanding video performance, above all with very good colour accuracy and sharpness. Sadly, the Picsio has one big fault: it's build quality, a lot of controls and buttons feel cheap and unstable.

Kodak's Zx1 is a sturdy, water-resistant, ultra-compact budget camcorder. It offers several frame rates for recording video and it can take still photos. The still features are limited, and the 3-megapixel images are mediocre; but it does take stills, unlike any of the Flip camcorders. Instead of the not so practical pop-out USB arm, the Kodak Zx1 includes an HDMI terminal, a USB and AV-out port, and an SD/SDHC card slot—all well protected with rubber covers. Unfortunately, the Kodak Zx1 is not quite as intuitive or streamlined as the Flip camcorders, especially with its unclear button-labels and confusing interface. Nonetheless, the Kodak Zx1 can be a good alternative to the Flip or other ultra-compact camcorders.

Pure Digital's Flip UltraHD (£159.99) is the upgrade of the Flip Ultra. Following its sister models, the mini-camcorder is just as easy to use. The UltraHD, however, features a little more: it is packed with 8GB of internal memory, has an HDMI port—the first Flip to have one—and records at a resolution of 1280 x 720 and a 30p frame rate. It also delivers the best overall performance yet from the Flip series.

The Canon Legria HF S100 is one of Canon's 2009 flagship camcorder, along with its twin the HF S10. Canon has given the HF S100 some major improvements this year. This includes the 8.59 megapixel sensor, a large lens and the marvellous new custom control dial, just to name a few. The video performance of the HF S100 was also enhanced, but its remarkably sharp videos, come at a price: the performance in low light is not as good, as expected. 

JVC's new flagship, the GZ-X900 (£999.95), is a stylish HD camcorder with an unusual design and some impressive capabilities. To make it more portable, JVC shaped into a lightweight, rectangular shape and omitted the hand strap. While the 10.3-megapixel sensor does promise a lot, the camcorder's performance is not as good as expected, especially in low light. But it's not all bad news. Great features and a unique appearance might be enough to get it into your pocket.

For those who do not want to spend too much money for a good camcorder, Panasonic offers three models. One of which is the Panasonic HDC-HS20. With a price of £549 it is a few hundred Pounds cheaper than the HDC-HS300 or top-of-the-line models from the competition. Besides the 80GB hard drive, to store hours of videos, the HS20 offers a beginner-friendly and intuitive design. But the HDC-HS20 does not just save you some money. Unfortunately the quality and performance are mediocre—especially compared to the Canon HF20 and other, more expensive camcorders.

Canon's HD-Camcorder HF20, selling for £799, features a 32GB internal flash memory and has loads of functions and options. It is the replacement for the Canon HF11, our Camcorder of the Year 2008. Canon, however, did mess around with some of the features that made the HF11 such a popular camcorder and the outcome is not always good. The HF20's low light performance is awful, its noise levels are very high, and the camcorder does not have full manual control.

Sanyo managed a minor miracle with the Xacti VPC-HD2000. Although the company isn't generally considered to be a top-tier manufacturer, the HD2000 held its ground in our performance tests against models from competing companies like Sony, Canon, and Panasonic. At approx £450, the price is alluring, but the VPC-HD2000 is not without its problems. The upright design can make handling tricky, and the menu system is simply awful.