Although its build is all hard plastic, the hardware seems durable enough to withstand a good year or two of being tossed in a bag or purse. Unlike the hard-plastic connector for the Pure Digital Flip camcorders, the Zi8's connector is rubberized, which allows a little more leeway when you're dealing with odd USB port placements. It's also a bit more durable, but the bendable connector cord would be much more handy if it was an inch or so longer.

The user interface is a cinch to learn, but it suffers from delayed reaction times. I often had to hit the power button more than once to turn on the Zi8, and the small nub that doubles as the capture button and the menu navigation joystick is tricky to use for the large-handed. I also ran into about two seconds of lag when switching between resolution options and other on-screen menu selections. Even more annoying: Video capture stopped by itself quite a few times.

In addition to the pea-size mini-joystick that controls the navigation and capture functions, the Zi8 has four dedicated buttons, for settings (you can adjust screen brightness, view audio levels, turn stabilization on or off, and set the date and time, among other options); deleting; capture; and playback. The controls are easy to use and well-spaced, but I did experience lag when using almost all of them.

If the best-quality footage and shooting options galore are your main needs in an HD pocket camcorder, the Zi8 gets a glowing recommendation. However, I did experience some key usability issues, even if its video quality blows the competition out of the water.