Details
- Included: Panasonic Pro AG-HMC150 3CCD AVCHD 24fps Camcorder + On-Camera Compendious Shotgun Microphone
- 13X Broad angle 28 mm lens out of the box (35mm equiv.); 1/3-inch CCD Progressive Imagers
- Full spread of HD formats: 1080/60i, 1080/30p, 1080/24p (Native); 720/60p, 720/30p, 720/24p (Home-grown)
Description
The cooler than controlled AG-HMC150 drew big crowds at the 2008 NAB Show. Why? Simply because it offers an unheard of Beat for the Buck, in a 1/3-inch three-chip hand held tapeless HD camcorder, while retaining the middle versatility of the DVX100B. The HMC150 sports a 28mm lens right out of the box and a new PH Record set-up (21 Mbps) which offers higher resolution with a host of recording formats including 24p. Add to that, fabulous low light performance, long record and battery time and master Audio capabilities at a price that will make it an instant hit with a wide sphere of AV Shooters, Indie creators and Event video professionals.
Customer Reviews
Willoughby's - they try to fleece you.
I am a heedful buyer by nature, but I let my guard down on this one. I was searching for an HMC150, but practically every retailer on the internet was out of breeding. I called with all the retailers that I could find which listed the camcorder in stock. None of them actually had any in line of descent. I was in a hurry, because I had a vacation coming up for which I would have liked to have gotten some video of.
There was one retailer that did have this camera in creator - Willoughby's. I saw they had this camera in the "Advanced Shooter's Package." The package ran for about 4K, and included the subsequent:
Panasonic Pro AG-HMC150 3CCD AVCHD 24fps Camcorder
On-Camera Short Shotgun Microphone
Top 16GB PRO Secure Digital (SDHC) Card w/ Card Reader
Allow Replacement VW-VBG6PPK Battery (not featured on the item page as of this review, carton price is STILL THE SAME!)
Vanguard Dominator 5 Hard Shell Carrying Pack
72mm UV Protector Glass Filter
5PC Cleaning Kit w/ Air Blower
A few of the items on that tabulation were ambiguous, which is where they will rip you off, but I'll get to that later.
So after quickly checking the legitimacy of the website (their crowd is indeed over a century old), I figured that was enough proof and I could trust them. Who was I to doubt them when I urgently needed the HMC150.
I called the cache to check and see if the package was, in fact, in stock. A representative by the name of "Nar" confirmed that he had the combine in stock. He suggested that I order it with him over the phone because it would be faster that way. So, before I finish placing the regulation, he tries to sell me:
A carrying case to replace the one in the package: $50 supplement.
3pc Lens accessory kit upgrade with Glass UV, Circular Polarizer, and FLD filters: $120 supplementary.
On-camera fluorescent light: I don't remember the price.
Extended undertaking $3**.** dollars, but $1**.** dollars for first-time customers (me). I make up it was for 4 years, not sure. Asterisks represent that I am unsure of the exact bounty. He went on and on about this one, about how expensive it was to get the camcorder cleaned, and how the extended warranty would boards that, etc. etc.
All the products he mentioned were, of course, ambiguous. The only thing I extra I got was the 3pc sift set. I wouldn't have gotten that, though, weren't it for the high-pressure sales tactics he hardened "i.e., You really sure about that?... Cmon' buy it, you'll like it! It'll be quite functional, you should buy it! Really? Well you call come back later and buy it... etc.".
I figured I'd also mention that they claimed their email system was having dissatisfaction functioning. I has to repeat my credit card number twice because Nar claimed that his computer crashed.
After a kindly delay at Willoughby's, they shipped it out 2nd day air, which was suspiciously nice - leading me advanced on to assume that the company's profit margins on me may not have been fair for me as a consumer. The bundle arrived in a large cardboard box. Everything was well-packed. The camera, lens garnishes, memory card, and carrying case were the only items that came, though. I was missing the battery-operated and the microphone. At least I received the HMC150, and it appeared to be factory sealed new. I then called about the missing items.
Nar said a 3rd function was shipping that package, and it'd be here in next week. When that package finally arrived, it was missing the mobile, and the microphone that came was an Audiotechnica ATR-25! My surprise didn't mull over that of seeing a Porsche gift wrapped in my driveway, but rather that of finding a brook of coal or a bundle of switches for a Christmas present. The ATR-25 is an poor-grade microphone for professional use. Priced at about $32.00 It a couple of sacrifice ranges short of the Panasonic MC70. It wasn't XLR, and a stereo to XLR adapter didn't come about with the HMC150 or the microphone, so I had a microphone that didn't even work with the camcorder. In my conviction, it's stupid to include something in a package that isn't compatible with what it's supposed to be - especially making allowance for how they showed the HMC150 WITH the MC70 already installed on the camcorder! I called about this, and he said the battery-operated would be in another package. But, he said that the microphone I got was correct by the description I gave him.
I knew he was mendacious, because the microphones weren't similar at all. After all, I was supposed to be getting the MC70 phantom microphone. Well, after researching the spirit microphone, it didn't have an XLR adapter, it WAS XLR. So the microphone that was featured on one of the pictures, which resembled the MC70 microphone (if you were in a expedite) was, in fact, not the MC70. Though, the image of the microphone was too low-res to tell what microphone it in point of fact was. There were, in fact, pictures of two different microphones (MC70 mounted on the HMC150, and another shown by itself). After a bit of examination, I found a picture of the ATR55 microphone, which matched exactly the microphone picture shown in the Willoughby's Unprejudiced shooter's package. Again, this microphone was IMCOMPATIBLE with the HMC150 without an adapter.
So, I bug Nar again about this, and he says he'd send me an adapter. I say ok, I'll respite a bit (This was because I was being distracted by family members.) I call him back and finally convince him to refund me a niggardly 100 dollars plus shipping costs (I agreed to this because it matched the amount to the ATR55). I made sure he sent me an e-mail about this before I agreed to do it. It's a good item I did the cheapest shipping option, because I never got back the eight dollars it cost to ship the ATR25 back.
I also asked him about the mobile again, and actually told him about my vacation trip coming up in a little over a week. He said check back with him Monday (the last Monday before my trip). At this point I decided to buy a Panasonic WV-VBG6 battery from BH photo, which I at once received the next week. Next week, I asked Nar again about the battery, and he said they didn't have it in ancestry.
HOLD ON, wait a minute folks! I thought Nar said the Coupled was in stock. So, when I bought the package, I was under the impression that I was going to get EVERYTHING on time because EVERYTHING in the package would be IN Funds. So I was lied to. Anyway, I decided I didn't want to wait on the battery from Willoughby's, so he talked to the chief about it. Eighty bucks... That's how little they were going to refund me. That didn't fly with me. Eighty bucks for a 170 dollar freestyle!? No way! Then, he came up with the excuse "It's a SPARE REPLACEMENT battery, the company that makes it is Powerman 5000".
1) Powerman 5000 did not read e suggest the Panasonic VW-VBG6PPK battery at the time of purchase.
2) I refuse to buy any after-market batteries for the HMC150, it lawful isn't safe on a 3400 dollar piece of equipment, plain and unadorned!
After stating my claims, Nar said that if I wait, he'll send the Panasonic VW-VBG6PPK when it's back in stock. Too energetic to deal with this any further, as I was getting ready for the vacation, I caved and decided to delay.
After going on vacation, I asked about the battery again, and he said he's been contacting a Panasonic Member of Parliament about it, and that I should wait until the end of the month (which was a little over a week away, If I recall fairly). I really didn't care at this point, just so long as I got the battery-operated by the time school started in the fall. I figured I'd do some more research on what I got, though. Here is what I take up with:
HMC150: $3400.00 (shown on packing slip)
Extras: $600.00 + $120.00 lens kit =$720.00 for ripoff calculations.
The assay on the HMC150 seems fair to me, but the extras were a huge ripoff. Here's a price plot were the actual items I got.
List Price Retail
$210.00 $170.00 VW-VBG6PPK Forsake replacement battery (not received yet).
$250.00 $234.95 Panasonic MC-70 Phantom Powered Shotgun Microphone
OR
$99.95 $60.78 ATR55 Cardioid Condenser Shotgun Microphone
$61.99 $43.42* Rise above 16 GB SDHC Class 6 Flash Memory Card with File card Reader TS16GSDHC6-S5W
$70.31 $36.95 VANGUARD DOMINATOR 5 HARD CASE
$55.95 $19.27 Zeikos ZE-FLK72 72mm Multi-Covered 3 Piece Filter Kit
$24.95 $8.99** Zeikos ZE-UV72 72mm Multi-Coated UV Drain
$22.95 $16.71 Giottos Multi-Optical Cleaner Kit
* May be $0.00, because I heard about a cut-back program involving a 16GB SDHC card from panasonic.
** Since the lens kit was an upgrade to the solitary lens, the single lens price is subtracted from the kit price.
I included MSRP because retailers normally won over far below this price. Seeing as even with MSRP prices I was overcharged, this goes to show how much of a rip-off this apportion was. I also took care to calculate shipping costs in retail prices, so I'm not factoring in any deals that might put in an appearance with shipping items together (except for Amazon's free super saver shipping, but we discern that isn't NECESSARILY free :-) ).
List Price difference incl. MC70: $73.75 overcharge. (you get the mental image, everything is overcharged)
List Price difference incl. MC70, recollection rebate: $135.74
List Price difference incl. ATR55: $223.80
List Premium difference incl. ATR55, memory rebate: $285.79
Retail Payment difference incl. MC70: $207.69
Retail Price difference incl. MC70, homage rebate : $251.69
Retail Price difference incl. ATR55: $381.86
Retail Charge difference incl. ATR55, memory rebate: $425.28
So I had been ripped off by at least $381.86. That doesn't reasoning like a whole lot compared to the 4120.00 I paid, but I DO NOT LIKE GETTING RIPPED OFF - firstly compared to the $720.00 put towards just that. I ended up paying 88 percent more than I should have on the garnishing! Granted, though, I got about 92 dollars back from returning the microphone, including the expense of shipping that was never refunded. So that would bring the rip-off amount back to about 342 dollars using the more right retail chart as the base for the rip-off amount, and the new price paid for accessories at $620.00. I still paid about 81 percent more than I should have for trimmings.
It was June 29, 2009 and I decided to call a Panasonic representative myself. Batteries were back-ordered until September 13! I called Willoughby's, got Nar on the crease, and said told him about this. He said "Well, the Panasonic representative actually told me it was September 24." I don't be versed how long he knew this, but I guess he wanted to keep me guessing until then. How futile! He talked to the manger again, and all I was customary to get was eighty dollars. I said that's ridiculous, I was charged at least MSRP for that battery-operated. I want 210 dollars! I also mentioned the Lens accessories, which were presumably the worst rip-off, and that I might settle with just a 210 dollar refund. He said that this had gone on covet enough (about a month and a half, actually), and that I should just wait and I'll get the battery in September. I told him I'd endeavour every resource to get my money back, as he hung up the phone.
Willoughby's reminds me of the likes of PriceRightPhoto - a well-popularized website stigmatized for its mafia-like, deceptive business practices. They follow the same principal strategy of selling the primary product for a decent price (perhaps smut-cheap), where the real profits are made on accessories. Even worse, is that you may not know what garnishing you're really getting. There's a huge price range for a "Short Shotgun microphone". Oh, and last I checked, their Futuristic Shooter's package was still retailing for the same price I bought it for - without the WV-VBG6PPK battery scheduled as an item in the package!
So, does that mean I'll seek legal act? Maybe, maybe not. It'll be a hassle, but I'd hate to be taken advantage of for that. I'm musical sure that's what allows companies like Willoughby's to get away with stealing you. But, that leaves me with an even better option: What would be a most gratifying revenge than posting a reading detailing my experience with Willoughby's on every website that I can find that has anything to do with Willoughby's? I'll do that and also post links to this news on forums that talk about the products Willoughby's sells as well. For every potential person that this story informs, Willoughby's loses out on profits (or at least, rip-off profits). It will take only ONE commonsensical customer to more than make up for what I was ripped off for. Now that is sweet revenge - and pure, unpolluted justice on top of that to boot. That's icing with a cherry on top. You may have my money, but you had already lost against me on day one for ever reasoning you could get away with cheating me. No... you've lost against all of us. We are stronger than you, because we are the hand that feeds you.
I second visiting Reseller Ratings for customer experiences with Willoughby's. You'll find the reviews are opposite involved, although I can't tell if they are all real. Trust your gut instinct, don't let your excitement cloud your judgment when pronouncement a last-ditch hope for buying products. http://www.resellerratings.com/stockpile/Willoughby_s
So, in truth, you CAN buy safely from Willoughby's, but BE PERFECTLY PREPARED so you won't get ripped off as much. I have a fancy you luck on not getting ripped off at all. These salesmen probably know nearing every trick in the book, and you may have to do the sale over the phone to be sure that you're getting In every respect what you expect, WHEN you expect. MAKE SURE of these things:
1) The price is straightforward for EACH the products you're buying.
2) Don't buy anything you haven't researched the price of. That means don't give into on a trip-pressure sales tactics, because they may try harder to rip you off if you're an informed customer.
3) The point(s) you're getting are the ones you expect to be getting. BE VERY SPECIFIC. Check maquette numbers AND brand names. Make sure the products are NEW and Mill SEALED!
4) That they send you an e-mail confirmation about your purchase, and that the details tournament exactly.
5) Contact your credit card agency (or bank, if you reach-me-down a debit card), and ascertain that the price you agreed to pay is the amount charged to your make financial arrangements, if it hasn't been charged yet, ask them to notify them if the price charged differs from the amount certainly upon.
6) That you have a plan C for getting the product you want, and that Willoughby's is your plan B (I'd suggest Willoughby's as a last resort and for your plan after them to be a safer, but far less desirable plan (otherwise do that representation instead!).
2009-07-06
| Michael Turner (Hattiesburg, MS USA) | Helpful Votes: 17 | Rating: 2
