I was thrilled to see an Audio Input jack on this camera as the built-in microphones on pocket camcorders often produce tinny sound. Unfortunately, the normal gain setting was too quiet with the wired lavaliere microphone I normally use with my full-sized camcorder. I was able to adjust the gain in the Zi8's settings area, but although it boosted the gain, it also boosted the noise that seems to be inherent in the camera's audio jack. Given that my lavaliere microphone is quiet with other camcorders I've used, I have to conclude that the camera's audio input is noisy.

It's nice to see image stabilization brought to a pocket camcorder--even if it's digital stabilization rather than optical--but, if you'll excuse the pun, the feature is no great shakes on this camera. I didn't notice a great deal less movement when switching on the feature.

All pocket camcorders have their weaknesses with exposure and color. The Zi8 is no exception. Like a lot of other pocket camcorders, the Zi8 blows out bright yellows--sunflowers, for example--under direct sunlight. Its video is less saturated and a little less detailed than that produced by the Flip UltraHD. Indoors, its video can be a little blue under natural light and favor yellow under indoor lights, but overall it does a reasonable job indoors.

Despite the number of problems cited in this review, the Zi8 isn't a terrible pocket camcorder. It's just that in the areas where it differentiates itself from other cameras in this class--1080p video, external audio input, and image stabilization--it doesn't perform well. Though it doesn't shoot 1080p video, allow you to swap batteries, or let you expand storage via an SD card, the Flip UltraHD remains the best all-around pocket camcorder I've used.