recommendations for a camcorder?

[redcrx]

Hi all,
Im possibly looking for a new camcorder. I have a miniDV one thats about 10 years old but does the job, but it is rather heavy.
Im toying with the idea of replacing it with something more lightweight.
I have confused myself silly browsing all the review sites and camera sites over the weekend, with all the special tricks the camcorders do now (like panasonics 3 second prerecord) and am stuck.
I dont like fiddling with the tapes and have no way of recording them onto a DVD at mo so i dont view them often.
we are off on holiday with the kids and i want something fairly robust but light.
Id like one with a viewfinder if possible, not just the screen.
full HD isnt essential though we do have a 1080p tv
a decnt array of automatic adjustments and good optical zoom would be good too

can anyone suggest anything?

[squarebear]

We use a JVC Everio one, not sure of the model number and it is excellent. It records straight to it's hard drive meaning you can have upto 36 hours without having to fiddle about.

[redcrx]

how do you store yours once filmed? do you record it onto a DVD or something?

[squarebear]

We download them to our PC and record them to DVD or we just plug the unit into the TV and watch them that way.

It has a 850 x zoom which is more than enough too.

[redcrx]

wow thats a lot of zoom lol

i dont have a dvd rewriter on my PC so would have to find a way of recording somehow