Picture courtesy of alvinc5.
| Value for Money | 0/10 |
|---|---|
| Overall rating | 1/10 |
Full review by
alvinc5
expert review 
on 15th Dec 2004
User Rating : 1
Respect :
0
Good Points: It's small. The Arcsoft software ok.
Bad Points: - WARNING -. Pictures keep erasing. Many occasions, it decides to not turn on. Corrupt / missing images. Has no manufacturer identity.
General comments: It's small. The Arcsoft software ok.
Picture keep erasing. Many occasions, it decides to not turn on. Corrupt/unrequested erasure of images. Has no manufacturer identity.
Over a year has passed since I decided to buy this matchbox sized camera. A teen I was, now an older teen I am, a long time ago, I decided that I'd would buy this 'Digi Precision' or 'Micro Precision' or just 'Precision' camera (it has several stamped brand names). Oblivious at the time, I though I was getting good value for money. £30 pounds was what it cost me a year ago, and now what do I see. It's only a year later does the price slowly descend to....an extotionate £19.99 at most places...and nearing success, £12.00 at Gadgetshop's latest online price. But still, £12 is steep, in comparison to the features the camera embodies:
- Unrequested image erasure / corruption.
- Power failure.
- High AAA drain.
It seems that the Digi Precision digital camera, or anything which is identical to style its for that matter, has a habit for erasing your images. On many occasions, the power button fails to turn on the camera, requiring you to remove and re-insert the AAA battery to manually reset it. I've experienced these issues, my brother, my sister and a friend of mine who decided not to consider my advice, and instead was lured by the £19.99 'sale' banner. I have to say even if I've said so already, £30 for this 'matchbox' as they literally call it, it overpriced for something which just literally burns and ignites your images into oblivion. I'd say £0.00, even below a box of matches, is more than reasonable.
Apart from these never ending issues, which have led me to leave my matchbox in hibernation, this Digi Precision (or whatever 'they'd' like to stamp on it) Digital Camera has no clearly labelled primary manufacturer. It's not on the box, on the single sheet instruction leaflet nor anywhere on or inside this matchbox piece of plastic. Searching on the Internet only reveals online shops selling the exact model, but different colour, either labelled or unlabelled. I therefore assume this product is of some generic manufacturer who'd rather stay in the shadows of China, far east (or west to be strange), where consumers can't burn these matchboxes, and hurl them into the non existant factory floor.
The sickening and disgraceful issue is that places such as Gadgetshop, Gadgets.co.uk, eDirectory.co.uk plus many high street and retail stores continue to sell this camera, either in a pretty blank, unlabelled black box as a gift, or in it's originally retailed white box labelled 'Micro Precision'- yet still no manufacturer name. I saw it last Christmas, and now I'm seeing it even in Waitrose, with no name, but the matchbox camera, in silver, and sold under their own gadgets range. And to add, all the online stores and high street retailers advertise the camera with nothing but positives. It is understandable, though. I've never come across a product with negative listings anywhere, but it's still insulting that they assume: "This camera is small, looks fun, looks good, looks appealing to kids...so let's order a warehouse sized unit from a never heard of before distant re-seller, place it under our brand and we'll get discount". Everytime I look at the gadgets section of a retailer, I somehow stumble across the exact same model, still not developed, upgraded, no new features...just the same old matchbox, trying to make it's fortune like a con-artist.
The only positives: It gives me a place to protect a AAA battery. It's small. It comes with great ArcSoft software and it looks as though it is fully functional. The good thing is that this winter, I purchased a Premier DS-30802 Digital Camera, which would put me in a lighter mood if I were to describe its features. My warning to you is, no matter how long this model camera stays on the shelves, no matter what pretty bow covered box it's in, what price it is or where you see it- do not even consider purchasing it for yourself, or for your children for that matter...unless you wish to see that distraught, disappointed, saddening hurtful look that makes you feel terrible.
Don't confuse it with slightly newer versions, or different versions, however. Such versions are the ones manufactured or stamped by L'espion, the Digital Dream L'Espion Xtra Digital Camera for instance is somehow similar, but not identical. By witnessing the Precision camera in stores, you can firstly identify it as having a semi-transparent aqua blue or transparent ice white colour. It is also available in a solid silver colour with a black circle around the front two digit 'Mode' LCD screen and another black circle around the lens. For a real image of the camera, check out the image on the main review page. Please, if you have any experiences you'd like to share, please comment.
alvinc5's review and ratings | 848 words
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