Remember the days when carrying a camcorder was like the equivalent to a workout at the gym? Well these days the bulk and weight of camcorders has vanished, leaving us with super sleek and portable models like the lightweight Sanyo Xacti CA9.

What’s more, this model boasts a waterproof shell, which means you can shoot footage around the pool, down the beach and even in the pouring rain should you want to. With a maximum depth of 1.5 meters this is by no means an ‘underwater’ camcorder, but it is protected against spills, splashes and the occasional dunking here and there – perfect in the hands of all the family.

The Xacti CA9 is built to be held like a gun, this is pretty comfortable, although not much thought has been put into the front grip for your fingers. Even so, holding it is easy and your thumb can easily reach the controls, which are on the back panel. The 2.5” LCD flips out and twists to give you a great view of what you are capturing and folds flush against the camera body when not in use. The bodywork feels pretty robust and sturdy too and comes in a variety of colours including red and lime green.

This model boasts the capability to record videos in HD at a resolution of 720p. We wouldn’t necessarily class this as ‘full’ HD, but for the price the quality of output is pretty good. In movie mode you can shoot 1,280 x 720 at 30 frames per second and still images are captured at a resolution of 3,456 x 2,592.

We found the movie clips to be of a decent quality, but photos are not as detailed as we’d quite like. For this reason this is perhaps not the best product for someone more into photography than movies – it rather serves as an add-on to the movie side of things.

Overall, the CA9 is a versatile product, which really lends itself to those family holidays and day trips. It’s pocketable dimensions and ability to switch from movies to stills means you will never miss a moment.