I love my gadgets so when money supermarket asked if I would like to take part in their Inspect-a-Gadget campaign I couldn't wait to find out what it was all about.





The Inspect-a-Gadget campaign set out to prove that cheaper electronics can be just as good as their pricier counterparts.
MoneySupermarket looked at five of the UK's top selling travel gadgets and looked at cheaper alternatives.

I've been wanting to start recording some videos for this site so I decided to go for the Phillips ESee HD Camcorder. This was bought via Expansys for £51.99 which I'd say is quite reasonable for an HD Camera.

Unfortunately the first one I received seemed to be faulty and wouldn't connect to any computers but Expansys were helpful and arranged for it to be collected and another was sent out about ten days later and in perfect working order.

I love the size of this as it can easily fit in a pocket or handbag and it will be really handy for taking to Glastonbury to capture some fun festival moments. It also switches on as soon as the viewfinder is opened which means you shouldn't miss any great footage.
The viewfinder is a three inch touchscreen and has three menus, "Scene" "Effects" and "Settings" which allow you to add filters and adjust how you would like the footage to look.


I've often tried to make videos using  my Sony Xperia S phone which has a great camera however its quite difficult as the HD camera isn't front facing. The ESee camcorder has a really handy flip screen which allows you to see yourself in the viewfinder while recording which I think is great.

The only real downsides to this camera is that it doesn't come with a memory card. Normally I wouldn't mind however the internal memory only allows for 14 seconds of recording which is pretty bad. Luckily I have a micro SD card spare so wasn't an issue for me but it might cause some surprises if you haven't read up on the device first of all.
I'm also not keen on how it connects to computers/charges as instead of a cable, the usb is built in and flips out. Once connected it feels very flimsy and I'm worried it could break. I'd advise being very careful when transferring files.

Overall I feel that the positives definitely outweigh the negatives with the Phillips Esee HD Camcorder and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking for an affordable way of filming.


I've noticed recently that gadgets are becoming more popular for people to use at festivals, everyone is filming, tweeting, recording and chatting (not a clue how they can make their batteries last for that long) but a lot of people often forget to insure these. Travel insurance is not only for going abroad, a lot of providers also cover domestic holidays so if you want to make sure your gadget is covered I'd recommend checking out a few policies.