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Battery
All camcorders use rechargeable batteries. For absolute convenience, and to guarantee that you never miss a shot because of a drained battery, you should buy at least one extra battery so that you can have one battery in the camcorder and one battery in the charger at all times. Note, however, that there are a few camcorder models whose batteries can ONLY be charged while IN the camcorder-a poor design feature of which you should steer clear. The best batteries are lithium ion (Li) because these are not subject to "memory effect." Memory effect means that the battery life grows shorter and shorter with each charge if you are in the habit of recharging before the battery is completely empty. The battery "remembers" the short use, and becomes a shorter-life battery. Li batteries have no "memory" so you can recharge at any time. Furthermore, Li batteries weigh less and last longer (up to 2 hours). If at all possible, choose a digital camcorder that can use lithium ion batteries. Camcorders that don't accept lithium ion batteries will likely either use nickel cadium (NiCad) or nickel hydride (NiH) batteries. NiCad batteries will last for about an hour on a single charge, whereas NiH batteries will last about two hours. There are larger capacity batteries available--for a substantially higher price. The biggest downfall of NiCad and NiH batteries is that they are both subject to the "memory effect."
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