I bought the Canon MV 550i two years ago after reading magazine reviews. It seemed to be the leader in the field of budget camcorders and having tried it in the shops found it very comfortable to use.
Initial impressions were very good, and I used the camera to shot some great footage skiing. The only minor downside was the noise of the cameras operation being pick up in operation - this was mentioned in reviews.

However, then it all went wrong. One day whilst backing up some editing footage via DV-IN from my PC, then camcorder chewed up a tape. Suspecting it to be a tape problem, I tried another (new) tape. Was OK for a bit until the camera then chewed up another tape with some valuable footage on it - not happy.
Spoke to Canon who were less than interested in the fault, but suggested I send it back for repair (under warranty). The camera took a long time to be repaired (double quoted time).
I also tried to claim for the 3 tapes that were damaged by the camera but they were not interested. Brushed off and refered to the terms and conditions.

Camera seemed to be OK upon return, but then just after the guarantee ran out it starting chewing tapes again. I spoke to Canon who said I'd have to pay for repair - about £180. Just not worth it. Camera is now consigned to back of cupboard.

Having researched this problem seems tape mechanism issues occur a lot with this (these) models - something Canon seems to be keeping quiet.

I'd never buy another Canon camcorder again and suggest you avoid them.

Scott Hatton

I have used the Canon MV550i for two years in all weathers and mainly a marine environment especially on my fishing boat. Have dropped it several times, left it out all night, got it splashed with sea water many times and still it worked faithfully. I got it wet once too often and it has finally refused to work; there is nothing; I have worked it to death. It was a great camera and I am going to buy another (or perhaps a later Canon model).

Avoid the Canon MV550i at all costs. I bought my first camcorder on magazine recommendation and bitterly regret it. It produced a lot of mosaic noise one month and one day old. After weeks of emails, phone calls and letters falling into a balck hole and being passed from pillar to post, Canon refused to replace it but instead undertook a major repair - it had only been used for a few hours! A few months later it was back with similar problems. Thereafter it worked ok, although I had to buy an external mic because the onboard noise was horrendous. Now, only 2 years old, the on board speaker has packed up - no sound on playback, no pings, no beeps, nothing. Look on the web and you will find others reporting exactly the same fault - will Canon accept there is anything wrong with their product? You don't need me to tell you the answer. In fact, I have vowed never to buy another Canon product no matter what the reviews say - they have an absolute disregard for what customers experience when things go wrong and will tell you that black is white.

My family bought 3 Canon MV550i cameras over a 6 month period and everyone was a dud. All 3 have been back to Canon at least once my own twice. In each case the warranty had just expired and a cheque for £180 must accompany the camera if you want it fixed. All 3 cameras have had the same problems with rewind, the screen and with the tape mechanism all of which are simply rubbish.

Got this Canon MV550i Digital Camcorder for christmas. Lucky me! I use broadcast cameras so I see good pictures all the time but nothing prepared me for how poor this thing is. I have an old 8mm camera that produces better pictures. The picture outside had a fair amount of grain and colour bleed. Indoors, my god, grain? A veritable silo of the stuff.

With poor sound marred by tape noise. Bottom loading tape compartment which annoys when sat on tripod this camera is poor. Stills are as grainy as the video and the night mode and low light settings are uterly useless with the camera shutter open for so long that even a minute shake will render the picture indescribable.

AVIOD!

Digital should be better than 15 year old analogue machines.

Before I bought the Canon 550i, I really trust Canon's products. I have a Canon digital camera, it is very good, so we decided to buy a Canon digital Camcorder. But when when took home Canon MV550i, and shot in the room, we found there are so much noise, and the color is very poor, much worse than my old non-digital JVC video camera, after two days test, we decided to return the camera and bought a Panasonic one, it is very good now.

I would not buy this Canon MV550i again if I was in the market for a new camcorder

Bought this in Malaysia in the Summer. Thoroughly impressed with it. Still getting used to the myriad of features, but have found no faults or problems so far. It is an excellent quality product and would recommend it to others. Great for editing with firewire on your PC.

I bought the Canon MV550i digital camcorder on the basis of it being the Winner of Camcorder Gold award in Camcorder User (May 2002).

The USB link allows you to upload edited footage or graphics from your computer, or other digital devices, to the camcorder.

This camcorder includes an extended recording function that increases the length of recording time. To achieve extended recording, 2x greater image data compression is applied in the ESP mode and 3x in the ELP mode. In ELP mode, an 80-minute DV tape will record 4 hours of video footage, 3 times longer than in Standard mode.

Buy it!