One of the most outstanding features of the Everio is its design. It is a sleek camcorder with a rectangular construction, without the traditional right-side hand strap. It can capture 9-megapixel still photos.  The other interesting feature of the Everio is its three high-speed recording options that can capture ultra-slow motion video, up to 600fps.

Although very impressively designed, it lags behind in the area of performance; one of the top most reasons for a person to buy a camcorder.  JVC usually does a good job in the area of color accuracy; for example, the GZ-HD300.  However, the GZ-X900 only has average color accuracy.  Images taken in bright light are dark.  Its results are more like the ones achieved from Sanyo VPC-HD2000 and Panasonic HDC-TM300. On an average, it does well with skin tones and a few bright colors. The colors are strong, deep and vivid.

Most of JVC’s camcorders are easy to use, but the GX900 is an exception.  Since it has an array of features and functions, the camcorder is difficult to use.  It has a number of options, buttons, and settings. It has multiple shooting modes and hybrid video/photo setup, which is confusing.  To add to the problem, its user’s manual does not help!  You will have to learn to use the laser-touch operating system, and this learning is going to be difficult!  However, once you learn how to use this, you will be able to scroll through the menu and make large-scale adjustments in a moment.  The laser-touch on the GZ-X900 has a better design than the other JVC camcorders.  Its construction is flat, more responsive and easier to use.

The GZ-X900 is a little different to handle from the traditional camcorders.  It does not have a hand strap, and you can hold it in any manner you wish.  You may either hold it with your fingers wrapped around its top or with your fingers underneath it and the thumb resting on the top. However, due to the lack of a hand strap it is also prone to drops. It has a wrist strap that attaches to a metal loop on the back of the device. Since it has a thin and rectangular body without any parts jetting out, it fits in the palm of the hand, not needing any strap.

The camcorder does not have any external mic or headphone jack, which puts it behind the other camcorders in its league.  The GZ-X900 has limited audio features; rather it only has the wind cut option for reducing the wind-noise that the microphone may pick up.  JVC placed the built-in mic has in an inept position on the top-back of the LCD panel.  Therefore, whenever you change the position of the LCD, the mic’s position changes, so it doesn’t capture sound well.

One of the biggest let-downs of the GZ-X900 is its low light performance; one may rather say that it has the worst low light sensitivity.  The images taken in the dark or in the not-so-bright situations have a slightly green tinge and the color accuracy is terrible. The noise levels are extremely high, too.  Overall, the camcorder gives a solid bright light performance and does a poor job at low light.

The automatic controls on the GZ X900 are good; it has a mode dial on the back of the camcorder, which has many options.  Through the dial, you may switch between photo and video modes, manual and automatic control, and choose high-speed shooting modes for video, or scene modes for photos. You can set the focus, shutter speed, white balance and exposure manually.

The camcorder has a standard zoom toggle, which sits on the top of the device.  The toggle feels comfortable, whichever way you hold the camcorder.  It has 5x optical zoom, which isn’t much as compared to the zoom offered by others in the league.  It has an alternate zoom control on the LCD panel; you adjust this zoom using the laser-touch system.  However, this zoom system does not work very well and is a little cumbersome to use. For an example, the zoom buttons do not appear unless you press the upper portion of the laser-touch.  You may adjust the variable speed control by applying more or less pressure to the toggle. There is no numerical display to show you where you are on the zoom range. However, there is a bar display to show you that.

One of the best attributes of the GZ-X900 is its motion smoothness. One may rather say that it is the smoothest that a camcorder shooting 1080/60i, delivers. Its fun tools include high speed shooting modes for shooting low quality, slow motion videos.  Its bright-light results are excellent; it delivers crisp, detailed and clear results in bright light conditions. One of the highlights of the GZ-X900 is the awesome, sharp picture quality.

It uses the AVCHD codes to capture video at a maximum bit rate of 24Mbps.  The device records to an external SD/SDHC memory card; there is no internal memory on the camcorder, but it does not ship with the memory card.  The position of the memory card slot is a little unusual but it offers good protection and it will not interfere with camcorder operation; it is located on the back of the camcorder, behind a big door that slides out to the right.  This door, although it protects the memory card, it seems to be flimsy and feels like it may break at any moment.

You get Everio Media Browser HD software with the camcorder.  This software is very easy to use but it is not Mac compatible.  So if you are using the GZ-X900 with a Mac, make sure that you have iMovies or other editing software available to import your clips.

Overall, JVC’s GZ-X900 is a good camcorder. Its positives include its bright light results, its array of manual controls and its unique design to make it possible to hold it in a number of positions.  These positives are some of the most exceptional features that a consumer camcorder has ever offered. On the other hand, its low light performance is absolutely awful; and I can’t recommend the camcorder to someone who plans to take footage in low light.  Overall, this is a good camcorder with better than average performance, except in low light.

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