I have been a pro photographer with cannon equipment and it has worked without a flaw over many years. I would like to buy the GL2 instead of a VX2000 but I have heard of a lot of repair problems with the GL2 & XL1. I like the features but I don't want a repair problem. I currently us a digital 8 sony and have run a lot of tapes through it without a problem. I am a little concerned that Cannon's quality for their video equipment may not be as good as their still photography equipment. Does the Cannon GL2 have more problems than the Sony VX2000?


Thanks for your input.

Have not heard of unusual problems. One factor is the user community and the physical abuse it receives. For example, the GL1 is/was popular among the skateboard community. That may be a higher risk of physical abuse type of shooting.

But I've not seen any actual numbers s to percent of units with problems for either brand.

Annecdotal information: My brother, who also owns a GL2, sent his Canon Ultura in for service earlier this year. It was repaired by Canon, but after light use it failed again in the same way just 5 months later. It's in for repair again.

Forum information: Just at this forum, there have been more complaints about defective GL2s than about defective Sonys. (There are more messages here about Canon; I don't know for sure that the Canon ratio is higher.) After I bought my GL2, I arrived at this forum and was a bit unnerved by the number of complaints.

I've had three Sony consumer camcorders over the years, two analog on one MiniDV. They all still work and have never been repaired. The MiniDV model, the newest, has recently developed some transport noise. I have a lot of Sony products (TV, VCR, DVD) and the only thing that has ever caused a problem is remote controls, which seem to die like flies.

Had other factors not intervened, I probably would have bought the VX2000. The GL2 was my second choice.

When I owned my video repair facility, we saw more Sony 8mm and HI-8mm camcorders than anyone else's. Why? They sold more. The last I checked, Canon Rebel's were the most repaired SLR. Why? They sell more.

The limited number of people I know with GL2's have not had any problems and they are quite happy with the camera. On the other hand, they are mostly professionals and they treat their equipment with respect.

If you're especially hard on your equipment, consider an extended warranty or a Whole Risk Rider on your Home Owners Insurance policy.

For what it's worth,

For all of Sony (which is a much bigger corporation than Canon Video), there's only one repair facility in Atlanta.

For Canon Video, there are two repair facilities (one east coast, one west coast). Canon is committed to a five-day turnaround in most cases, even providing loaner cameras in certain circumstances if repairs are lengthy.

I don't think you can accurately guage the real number of repair issues of any particular make or model camcorder by what you read on the internet. Among the entire user base of camcorder owners, not even one tenth of them... maybe it's not even one percent... are posting online about their experiences. That's not nearly a large enough sample to derive any real ratios of breakdowns, etc. You may have seen twenty or thirty people complain about camera X, when in reality camera Y breaks down much more frequently but those people just aren't writing about it. That's a highly likely scenario. Hope this helps,

The number of complaints and the manner in which they are collected make any data statistically inaccurate and insignificant. The manufactures to not publish any data on models or frequency of repairs. Even Consumer Reports does not use statically accurate sampling to compile their data. The manner in which it is collected and the lack of verification make it inaccurate.

The data from my repair facility is meaningless also. The sampling is too small. I saw maybe 30 Sony camcorders a month for repair. Compared to the millions sold, the numbers are insignificant.

Thank you for all your input. I do understand that most of the posts about repairs have no real bearing on the actual statistics but it made me a little nervous. I'm just trying to check all the issues out and make best use of my small budget to get my company going.

Thanks

I'm don't know if Canon uses the same repair center for it's still cameras as it does for video, but I hope not. My current experience with the repair center in Hanover Park IL has not been good.
Examples:
On the phone prior to sending in my G2, tech stated that there is no base charge, they open every unit, identify the problem then contact you via fastest mode possible with an accurate estimate. Turns out that at least in my case, there is a flat fee ($140 Plus tax and shipping).
Called 3 times in three days to find out the status of repair. All three times had to leave voice mail. Not one call was returned.
Finally got through (today) and was told that an estimate was mailed two days ago, 7 days after they received the camera. ( I provided my phone, email and fax in the letter describing the problem)
Hope to get it back soon!

Rob

Canon Video does not use that repair center where you had a bad experience with Canon Photo. Canon Video repair centers are in Irvine, CA and Jamesburg, NJ. Hope this helps,

i had a problem with my gl2 after owning it for about 4 months. the onboard speaker died unexpectedly so i shipped it off to their service centre in mississauga, ontario. they had it for about 3 weeks and then returned it to me through purolator courier. every time i called them they were easy to deal with, although the entire repair process took around a month from the day i mailed the camera to them till the day i got it back.

Hi,

I have a Sony TRV20 wich was my first camcorder, and there is only one thing I did with it, bringing it to the Sony repaircenter.

After 4 weeks my camcorder was giving serious problems, and it was repaired by Sony. I got 12 months warranty, but my camcorder was 5 months at the repaircenter, it was repaired 4 times in 1 year. I talked to many people, and wrote a letter, but Sony does replace camcorders, they will repair them until your warranty is over.

They do not know the word "service" at the Sony servicecentre in The Netherlands.

Because there service in the Netherlands is so bad, and they are not willing to help you, I never buy any Sony product again!

I think the quality of the VX2000 is pretty good, but because it is a Sony I will never buy it.

I have my XM2 for 3 months, and it still works good