The JVC Picsio is an addition to the mini camcorder parade.  It is comparable in size to the Flip Mino HD and the hot Kodak Zi8.  It is available in three colors, viz. deep purple, royal blue, and black.  It has a shiny faceted plastic face with wavy chrome-colored accent strip.  The look of this toy is rather flashy!  It sports all the features that you may see in the other mini camcorders; nothing very special about this one, other than the “too” flashy body, of course.  It actually is so flashy that it almost looks like a reflector!  However, beneath this flashy body is a camcorder that can deliver good video quality.

It shows good color accuracy in bright light.  The accuracy is good enough to compare to JVC’s regular consumer camcorders like GZ-HD300 or the GZ-X900.  The saturation levels are good and the colors are strong and vibrant.  The camcorder has no options for color mode, so you cannot adjust the saturation and colors.  The noise levels appear to be on the higher side. Although, not all that bad either.

The GC-FM1 has limited manual controls, which include zoom, video/photo size options and a normal/macro focus switch.  What it does not have is scene modes or low light modes.  Its auto controls perform well, especially the auto white balance.  Most of the “very good” camcorders have trouble adjusting under a variety of lights, but not the Picsio.  It also does a good job with auto exposure by rendering smooth and even adjustments between various levels of light.  It lacks an optical zoom and has 4x digital zoom.  You control the digital zoom by the up and down arrow keys on the d-pad of the device, and therefore there is no variable speed control for the zoom.  These buttons do not function very smoothly, especially when compared to the ones found on the Flip UltraHD.

It has a fixed focus, which means that there is no autofocus mechanism on the camcorder.  There is a slider on the left side of the camcorder that can switch between normal and macro focus settings.  Missing are also low light modes and automatic slow shutter speeds.  However, since it performs well in low light conditions it may not need any low light modes.

Although, small it still is very comfortable to hold the camcorder in the hands.  It is an easy-to-use machine unless you want to change the video recording mode or access the setup menu.  Most of its functions, like recording, entering playback mode, are all very simple.  It has a digital image stabilization system, which ultra compact camcorders do not normally have, but I’m not sure of how effective it really is.  The internal battery has average life.  The other gripe with the GC-FM1 is that it charges only via an USB.

It has built-in software that is easy to use.  The camcorder connects easily to the computer via USB.  Since there are a limited set of buttons the camcorder can be very easy to use.  When compared to other consumer camcorders it has fewer buttons and therefore a simple menu.  The Picsio is not too big and neither is it too big.  It feels more like taking pictures with a cell phone, because you have to hold it vertically in your hand.  Its record button sits in the middle of a four-way switch, a little lower on the body than it should have been.  This position of the record button makes it difficult to hold the camera still while pressing the record button.

The GC-FM1 is a portable device, predominantly due to its small size.  It also records to SD/SDHC cards making at all the more “carry anywhere.”  However, there is a catch here: as said earlier it is has an average battery life, 75 minutes to be precise, and it charges via a USB cable connected to a computer.  In case you run out of battery, you will have to be close to a computer to charge the toy again.  You may want to buy an adapter that allows you to plug a USB connector into a wall-power outlet.

It features a 2-inch LCD screen, that is the largest that the LCDs on an ultra compact camcorder can get.  It is a stationary screen situated on the back of the camcorder.  It does not feature a viewfinder.

The CG-FM1 records audio via a built-in stereo microphone.  Like all other ultra compact camcorders, its sound quality is not great.  The Flip Ultra and most of the other competitors record mono audio; the Picsio captures stereo audio.  The Piscio audio has a constant buzz and muffled sound.  If you are particular about the sound quality produced by a camcorder, you may want to go in for a higher-end, more expensive camcorder.

Other than capturing still photos with a few different size options, the CG-FM1 does not have any other still feature.  You have to press the shutter button down to capture a picture, but there is no shutter sound when you click a snap, and therefore you find yourself wondering if you have actually captured a photo or not.  Where the Picsio score high on the video color test, it scores low on the still picture color test.  Nevertheless, this is a problem faced by many ultra compact camcorders; their white balance does not function as well in still pictures as it does in the video mode.  In all the stills captured have poor saturation and color and are not very sharp.

Overall, JVC’s CG-FM1 Picsio produces amazing videos, mostly due to its high-resolution sensor and an impressive automatic white balance, but is still not a very satisfying product.  This is because it fails in various other departments.  It has a very flimsy body and its looks, too are not very pleasing.  It has a number of uncovered ports making it a little disagreeable.  Nevertheless, it is an easy-to-use camcorder with very good picture quality.

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