update ...
(I guess I need to register the camera with Samsung so I can immediately exchange it.....)

Samsung customer service had me remove the mem card and battery and hold down the power button on the camera for about 30 seconds.

reinstalled battery & mem card. camera powered up and has not turned off when zooming since then. will have to see if this is just a temporary fix. or if something was able to recalibrate when it powered back up.

I've been using mine for a few days and I'm very satisfied. I'm lucky that my shipment included all items included in the Woot description.

But since it does not come with the A/V cable, how generic of a cable can I buy? Should any mini HDMI to HDMI cable work? Or is there a specific one I'm going to need?

Thanks!

roboballs wrote:.... Should any mini HDMI to HDMI cable work? Or is there a specific one I'm going to need?

Seems like the whole point of having the mini-HDMI format on the camera would be to make it work with any mini-2-regular HDMI cable.

NOTE -- www.monoprice.com carries the mini-2-regular HDMI cables in 3ft and 6ft lengths, and you can also order an adapter that works with a regular HDMI cable as a smaller item to pack in your travel kit.

I am not convinced that makes a great charging and data transfer input for the camera, but it is an interesting proprietary design.

So I've been told that they don't have one to send me (to replace the one that wasn't in the empty box) and that I should see my money in another week or so.

Am I wrong to be slightly pissed?

chaser30 wrote:So I've been told that they don't have one to send me (to replace the one that wasn't in the empty box) and that I should see my money in another week or so.

Am I wrong to be slightly pissed?

No, you are not wrong. Perfectly understandable if you are hugely pissed, even.

However, being pissed at Woot won't do you any good. They didn't do this on purpose, and if they sold out, there is nothing more they can do other then offer you a full refund.

The low prices they sell at is result of not having the kind of quality control (checking each box before sending) you might expect at a high end store that sells at retail.

Most times everything goes well with Woot purchases, sometimes it doesn't. Those times they will do what they can, if they don't have any more cameras, they will give you the money back.

But again, I understand being pissed, I would be too...

I got mine. It is either new or just like new. It works very good. Takes nice pics, zooms smoothly, all the correct cables. It will charge with the wall plug adaptor, the usb port on my PC or the car charger for my TomTom. Happy customer here. The extra wait was worth it. Now I have to wait for NewEgg to deliver my SDHD card so I can give Wifey hers back.

Has anyone found a nice case? I am looking for a clip on like a cell phone uses.

unregistered wrote:I got mine. It is either new or just like new. It works very good. Takes nice pics, zooms smoothly, all the correct cables. It will charge with the wall plug adaptor, the usb port on my PC or the car charger for my TomTom. Happy customer here. The extra wait was worth it. Now I have to wait for NewEgg to deliver my SDHD card so I can give Wifey hers back.

Has anyone found a nice case? I am looking for a clip on like a cell phone uses.

marco19477 wrote:

There is a real nice case on ebay it doesn't have a clip but it has a belt loop. It is a hard case that has a pocket for a extra battery and or sd card. It has Samsung on the front camera fits secure in it. It is shipped from Japan but I got it in 10 days cost $6.50 + $1.00 shipping real good deal sellers id is memocare

chaser30 wrote:So I've been told that they don't have one to send me (to replace the one that wasn't in the empty box) and that I should see my money in another week or so.

Am I wrong to be slightly pissed?

Dude, I'll send you mine, defective audio and all!

marco19477 wrote:There is a real nice case on ebay it doesn't have a clip but it has a belt loop. It is a hard case that has a pocket for a extra battery and or sd card. It has Samsung on the front camera fits secure in it. It is shipped from Japan but I got it in 10 days cost $6.50 + $1.00 shipping real good deal sellers id is memocare

Thanks for that. I just ordered one.

!

Does anyone know of a NiMH AA battery that runs a higher voltage than Eneloops? The Kodak we have now shuts off when the batteries are still 80% charged...[/quote]


I had to go with NiZn AA and you need a special NiZn charger. Watch deals woot for about a week and one night they will come up 8 batteries and charger for $28 or so

Thanks for the suggestion about the case on Ebay. I ordered one and like it. I used the camera at the Austin City Limits music festival recently and the optical zoom made a huge difference on a lot of the shots of the bands.

Even though the camera is generally working OK, I have sent it in to the shop for a repair or replacement, since it still shuts down occasionally when zooming in or zooming out. I suspect that is due to some slight friction in the gearing for the zoom so the camera shuts off rather than continues to try to force the mechanism to move. There is a large range of motions for the barrels to go to full zoom, so I am concerned that a small problem now will get worse over time.

UPDATE: camera went to the NJ repair facility where the lens/barrel assembly was replaced and quickly returned 10 days after it was shipped. no complaints.

Very nice camera!!! Videos look great. The only complaints I have are: the sound goes out when zooming during video take, and I don't know if this is cause it's a refirb, but some of my pics got corrupted to where you couldn't see them in the view finder - sitting in the camera for about two months. The pics transfered to pc fine, just couldn't be seen on the camera ever again. It hasn't happened again, and i hope it doesn't. But over all, very happy with the camera, and great price!! The new ones went for $100 more!