I had the same debate in the Argos catalogue too, and I eventually chose the Canon MV790 because its fairly cheap, mini DV, has decent optical zoom, digital image stabiliser, digic dv processor, 16:9 true widescreen recording, night mode etc etc the list goes on. Cost me £200, and I got a Canon bag/tapes with it. I use it nearly every day, and its been nothing but excellent. I got hold of a wide angle lens too (borrowing) and that has helped my filming a lot. Oh and if you buy a mini DV chances are you will need a fiewire capture card/cable for your PC, I got mine for £8 posted off ebay, a wise purchase for quick and easy film capture.