Customer Reviews
Suddenly stopped recording 
2009-02-04
Was a good camera until it suddenly stopped recorder video. Now I understand Cannon will fix it free? Well if they do, I'll probably buy from them again....otherwise???? Not real happy with the reliablity.
Poor Video Taken Indoors 2006-11-12
I bought the ZR90 about 2 year back when I had my first kid as I wanted to keep home videos of the kids. Frankly I am terribly dissappointed at at the quality of the pictures in the house with all the lights on in the house. My sons first birthday video's are all so dissapointingly dark. One mistake I did is not going to stored and checkign out the camera before I ordered it online. I suggest goin to a retailer and checking out the picture quality indoors before ordering it online.
Outside pictures in bright sunlight are okay. I am not a phony reviewer trying to trash the product. If you click on my name you will see all the other products I have reviewed.
Has a repair notice on it. 
2006-10-28
I bought this camera about 21 months ago; I have only used it a couple of times but without a problem. When I tried to used it the other day I was able to record sound but no picture. I was prepared to buy a new camera, until I found that Canon has a repair notice on it for this problem. They will fix it free of charge even if out of warranty; I could not ask for more!
ZR series 2006-10-12
2 star rating-BUT I don't have this particular item. I have a ZR60 and LCD screen suddenly went black. We have not used this camcorder that much over the last 3 years (have about 6-7 complete tapes) and it would cost over 200.00 to repair so the ZR85 was recommended for close to the cost of repair(the batteries and tapes would fit the same, etc). THANKS for the info on this camcorder! I think we will continue to look (maybe Sony?). Consumer reports says repairs are higher on the Canon's than any other camcorder....
Great Mini Dig Vid Cam 
2006-09-03
This cam works great and never had any problems with mine. Great deal even contains a microchip for color etc that only high end camcorders have but itsn't really mentioned.
DONT BUY 
2006-06-20
Special moments may come and go, but with Canon's ZR-series camcorders you can capture and relive those sunny days at the beach, casual strolls through crisp fall foliage and family-packed holiday celebrations with brilliant clarity. Smoothly conforming to the contour of your hand, the ZR series camcorders feature the ultimate in Canon design and functionality, allowing you to effortlessly capture once-in-a-lifetime moments whenever and wherever they happen.Smooth and compact, the Canon ZR85 camcorder immediately conforms to the contour of your hand, allowing memories to be effortlessly captured anytime, anyplace. A step above the Canon Z80, the ZR85 blends exceptional value with powerful performance.
Good So Far 2006-02-01
I bought the ZR85 about 10 months ago. I'm happy with the way it works. It has more features on it then I will ever use. The Basic features work perfect.
The factory battery died after about 5 months and would no longer take charge. That was a bummer.
I have would recomend this video camera.
3 repairs in 1 1/2 years 
2005-12-30
Bought this camera for my son about 1 1/2 years ago. Worked well for a year. Right before our vacation we experienced a problem where the camera would not connect with the computer. Canon's tech support determined it was a hardware problem with the camera. They charged me $200 for the repair. When I got the camera back, the rewind wouldn't work. I returned it to them and they fixed that free of charge. It is now 6 months later and the camera will not connect to the computer again. I plan to call them, but will not repair the camera if they charge me. I also will never buy another canon product if they charge me.
After almost 2 yrs, my ZR85 is fried..... 2005-12-17
I loved my ZR85, until a two months ago when it basically started a slow death. It would play tapes, but when in record mode, it was like gray and black infared video (just gray and black, weaving around, not static). I took it to Best Buy to the Geek Squad. Paid $24.95 to have it looked at. They call me a week later to say it will be $252 to fix it. Unfortunately, the new camcorders out there are about $250-$400 for a new mini-dv. So with tax time coming up, I guess I will have to decide on a new one. I'm afraid that if I fix the ZR85, that something else will go wrong. I already have $500 in this camcorder, plus the cost of a spare battery (battery life is iffy on ZR85), and 6 mini-dv tapes, and adding a $50 firewire port to my computer, which created videos that had warped sounding audio when trying to create the cool videos that Canon promised I could make..ugh.
So here comes Christmas, my daughters first one, and her birthday is next month. We will miss having both on video because of this, and It just makes me sick. I loved this camera, but a $500 investment should last longer than 22 months.
Save your money! 2005-12-16
I bought this camera for Xmas 2004, worked fine for about 3 months (used it maybe 3-4 times). When I hooked it up to my TV, the play back would freeze. I sent it back for repairs, took about 2 months. When I got it back it would then freeze while recording. My tape was stuck inside, the camera would not respond, the red charge light would remain on. I called Canon and they suggested I send it back in. I didn't want to send it in with the tape so I kept trying to get it to work. I finally got it to turn back on and removed my tape. I didn't bother sending it back because it was working fine. I find that whenever there is only 1 bar of power in the battery it freezes. I just bought an after market battery from Ebay, if this problem persists I'll just buy a Sony.
