I purchased the Canon UC8000 in Fuerteventura. I have used it to film my children growing up and transferred all footage to a normal VHS tape rather that store the HI8 tapes. The microphone is extremely sensitive and picked up a lot of wind noise at the beach. Playback on this model has no sound unless played through TV. Difficult to avoid hand shake due to the weight. I am very short-sighted and had to remove my glasses and use the adjustable viewfinder lens to see what I was taping, then of course I could'nt see my subject if I had my glasses off. I now need to purchase a flip screen type so I can see what I'm filming! It suited me at the time but now unfortunately, modern mini dv digital camcorders have now made this model look huge and clumsy.