After some trial shootings, both in- & outdoors, I must say I'm quite satisfied with my Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD1000's overall performance.
⊕ While not quite as pocketable as other Xactis, the super compact & light HD1000 is a very portable & easy to handle mini-camcorder.
⊕ Its comprehensive menu is easy enough to navigate and allows straightforward access to lots of optional manual settings.
⊕ Even in less-than-full 1280x720p HD-HR video resolution, clips are good enough to be viewed in full-screen mode on e.g. a 24" iMac.
⊕ Playback is remarkably smooth at 60fps.
⊕ The HD1000 is a best-of-both hybrid, taking surprisingly good 4MP (4:3) or 3.5MP (16:9) photos with vibrant no-need-to-adjust colors.
⊕ Useable 0.9MP snapshots can be taken while filming in HD-HR, and even better 2MP ones in Full-HD.
⊕ Effective EIS enables handheld shooting without too much noticeable shaking, even with some zooming.
⊕ Low light performance seems to be pretty decent.
⊗ The rather slow auto-focus tends to hunt in less-than-optimal conditions, like in low-light & full zoom, but...
+ it's possible to shoot with preset manual focus or lock the auto-focus anytime while filming
⊗ Sanyo's Full-HD AVC/H.264 encoding format is not supported by Apple, meaning it is not possible to just view or edit video clips shot in 1920x1080i resolution on a Mac, but...
+ downloading & installing avc1decoder* partially fixes this problem
⊗ The LCD's default 16:9 video preview changes into a very different 4:3 still preview when (half-)pressing the photo button, meaning what-you-see-is-not-exactly-what-you-get regarding snapshots.
⊗ The otherwise very decent built-in mic suffers from white noise and inevitable nearness to internal mechanics of focus and zoom engine. Topside, both these interferences can be eliminated by using an external microphone, definitely a recommended accessory when clear audio is important. Underwater however, such an external solution is not available. Worse, due to noise amplification by the underwater housing, the camcorder's internal creaks & whizzes become so irritating as to render the o-tone unuseable.
⊗ Epoque's underwater housing allows access to all the camcorder's buttons except for the mini-joy-stick's up. While this is not really a problem as menu navigation is circular, it does mean one less menu short-cut option.
⊗ The underwater housing's biggest button is its least useful one. Worse, the rather obtrusive push & turn button, meant for switching between record & play mode, is I-can't-figure-it-out impractical.
