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Is Sony's Bloggie HD MHS-CM5 a pocket camcorder contender?

The Sony Bloggie CM5 isn't as compact as competing models from Flip Video and Kodak, but it delivers an above-average feature set and video for the money.

David Carnoy Executive Editor / Reviews
Executive Editor David Carnoy has been a leading member of CNET's Reviews team since 2000. He covers the gamut of gadgets and is a notable reviewer of mobile accessories and portable audio products, including headphones and speakers. He's also an e-reader and e-publishing expert as well as the author of the novels Knife Music, The Big Exit and Lucidity. All the titles are available as Kindle, iBooks, Nook e-books and audiobooks.
Expertise Mobile accessories and portable audio, including headphones, earbuds and speakers Credentials
  • Maggie Award for Best Regularly Featured Web Column/Consumer
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David Carnoy

Sony's Bloggie HD MHS-CM5 is available now for $199.99. Sony

So far, Sony hasn't done too well in the fast-growing cheap pocket camcorder space dominated by Flip Video, characterized by candy bar vertical camcorder designs and prices ranging from $150 to $250.

After an initial flop with the poorly named NSC-GC1 Net-sharing camera a few years back, Sony redubbed its pocket camcorder line to the also poorly named "Webbie." That move fell flat, and now it's now moved on to the marginally less poorly named "Bloggie" and returned one of the models to the pistol-grip design of yesteryear, which remains popular with small, zooming camcorders from companies such as Sanyo and Aiptek.

Though redesigned from its predecessor, the Webbie HD MHS-CM1, the Bloggie HD MHS-CM5 offers a similar feature set: 1080p video capture, a 5x optical zoom lens, a large 2.5-inch swiveling LCD, and a rechargeable, removable lithium ion battery. It adds a mini-HDMI connector and the capability to charge the battery via the attached USB connector.

Read the full review of the Sony Bloggie HD MHS-CM5.