for 400 or less range? Anybody have experience with these? I've never owned one before.

Thanks much.

I've heard good things about Sony.

I've heard bad things about JVC (a former coworker got burned buying one that turned out to be unusable -- it has all the fancy connections he wanted, but turns out that JVC refuses to cooperate with Microsoft to create the necessary drivers).

Check out e-bay!  I got a used Sony with two hours on it for $300.  It was a $1200 Hi8 Camcorder new and the guy worked for Circuit City.  He used it to film one little league game and then wanted to get something else with more doo-dads on it.  The one I bought from him is "brand new" in appearance and works perfectly.  I've used it for six months with no problems.  He also sent me two extra batteries, a case and some tape.