Toshiba’s lumbering brute is the cuckoo in this compact cam group test nest. It films to a 100GB hard drive — the SDHC slot is for stills only.

Video quality is simply superb at 1080i, with the A100’s sensor sucking in color and detail like they’re going out of style. The stabilized 10x lens is particularly sharp, quick and quiet to zoom, which makes the Toshiba a cinch to use, especially alongside the speedy control dial mounted on its three inch screen.

In fact, the only real drawback to this Toshiba is that generous waistline. If you overlook its tubby tendencies, the Gigashot is a great choice for serious movie makers.

LOVE - Stellar image quality, Very easy to use. Hours and hours of hard drive space.

HATE - Unreasonably huge compared to its test rivals.

I SAY One of the best HD camcorders to date.

SCREEN Three inches. 236,000 pixels
LENS/RESOLUTION 10x/1920×1080
BATTERY 95 minutes
MEMORY SDHC 100GB hard drive
VIDEO FORMATAVCH.264
SIZE/WEIGHT 78x135x79mm/495g