Last Spring, I finally broke down and dropped the money on a Mini-DV camcorder. I did a bunch of research, and came to the conclusion that there was no better value for the money than a Canon Elura 100.

And the experience I had with this camera proved me right. It had beautiful picture, minimal motor noise, and gorgeous 16:9 widescreen. It had no problem playing nicely with my PC via firewire, and I got some very nice videos out of it.

And then, all of a sudden, a couple weeks ago it stopped working. No reason, it just started making weird noises when I needed to rewind, fast forward, or even play. Then came the error message that told me I needed to remove the cassette. An error message that is apparently so common that there is a product advisory for this issue and this issue only on the sidebar of Canon’s support page for the product.

Of course, the Camera is only a few months out of warranty. It’s too new to be having a problem like this unless it had taken damage (which in this case, hasn’t happened) or it was just not made properly. I’m guessing, despite the fact that it was made in Japan rather than China, that the latter applies here.

It’s too bad. My philosophy is that if I lay down $400 hard-earned bucks for a piece of electronics and take good care of it, it should keep working for a couple years. I shouldn’t have to take it in for service, pay a diagnostic fee, plan on paying an unspecified number of hours of labor, all of which adds up to what I could probably buy the camera for used.

Sure, I’m guessing here - I haven’t called yet, but I used to be a computer tech. I’ve got some idea of how these things work. Back in 1997 we charged $75 an hour for labor. If something is wrong with the tape mechanism, I’m sure it won’t be a quick fix. Even if it is, how long will it last? Either way, it’s not something I even want to have to deal with on a relatively new piece of equipment.

(Update: I’ve just discovered that the nearest repair center is 186 miles away…in New Jersey. Not. Gonna. Happen.)

I’ve sent an e-mail to Canon, and I made sure my blog address was included. The consumer may not have the power of a journalist, and I may not be a top-tier blogger, but this blog went up at about the same time the warranty expired. In that portion of this year, I’ve received nearly 32,000 page views here.

Are you listening, Canon? My readers are.

Filed under: Grrr!