The info used here came from first hand experience, user and owner reviews, and retail sales data.

The first thing that jumps out at you is the size and heft of these units. The Canon HR10 was the most compact unit and while the build quality was good, the unit does not have the same semi-pro feel as the Sony HDR-HC1 or the JVC Everio. The Canon's silver finish was also a bit distracting in daylight shooting as the color contrast made the already small button functionality even more difficult to use. The JVC Everio had the smartest design and was more intuitive than Sony's HDR-HC1. JVC's layout put controls where you expect to find them.

The interesting thing here is all of these camcorders use a different storage format. Canon uses mini-DVD disc and SD cards, Sony uses mini-DV tape and SD/Memory Stick, and the JVC uses an internal 60GB hard-drive. This is a bit odd for editing reasons. With the JVC Everio and Sony HDR-HC1 connectivity is via firewire or USB and the transfers are slow compared to the ability to simply pop the Canon open and get a DVD. In editing on a computer, having the DVD is super-quick, exporting scenes is easier (as long as you know where they are or have track-marked them) and archiving is as easy as taking the DVD out. The next best was the mini-DV tape format used by Sony, but many people don't have a mini-DV VCR in the living room. Lastly on mini-DV while it IS a digital format is still uses moving parts, which for pros and semi-pros can cause archival issues.

On the quality of picture all of these units were good performers, however the Sony HDR-HC1 and JVC Everio stood out with well balanced warm colors and sharp images with minimal artifacts. JVC and Canon both go a bit overboard with the digital zoom which left tons of digital noise and artifacts on the screen and even more when used with image stabilization. Sony's digital zoom is the smallest of the group and coincidentally looks best.

In consideration for buying, determine your use of the camcorder and your skill level. If you're an aspiring filmmaker look Sony and no where else. For the occasional family movie or road trip the Canon is a smart compact choice that will not drown you in bells, whistles or buttons. The middle ground is the JVC Everio, just be warned that if you take lots of footage you will be erasing that hard-drive often and just like a computer you're subject to the same issues hard-drives face only worse because unlike your home computer you'll be carrying this one around.