[Swox]

We're thinking of getting a Canon Vixia HF100, and need to get an SDHC card to go with it. Any recommendations of card types/brands to get and/or avoid? Any experience with the Vixia?

As a side question: Does anyone have experience buying from TigerDirect.com or B & H photo? It would be especially neat if any of my fellow Canadians had bought from either.

[PB PM]

Tiger direct isn't bad, (Canadian site is Tigerdirect.ca), I used to order all my computer stuff from there, but there are better places. Newegg.ca or ncix.com have better prices and service IMO. I've heard a lot of good things about B&H, but I try to avoid ordering anything from the states. I looked at shipping costs from B&H and they have a minimum shipping charge for items to Canada that is $22 (US).

As for high performance SDHD, Lexar Professional or Sandisk Extreme cards are the way to go. They cost a far bit though, 4GB cards are in the $50-60 (Cdn) range for class 6 cards (I wouldn't get anything any slower than a class 6 card for HD video). Personally I've had good luck with Patriot's Signature line of memory cards, but that is for still images and they are no where near as good as the other ones I mentioned.

[Swox]

Cool, thanks PB PM. I know about CF cards, but not SDHC - there're so many different brands!

We can get the camcorder from the States refurbished for about $200 less than a demo unit here, shipping in. That's why we're looking at the ordering from the States. Unfortunately, TigerDirect.ca doesn't have the refirb available. But we're going to pay a bit more for USPS delivery because UPS always gives Canadians the Royal Shaft on duty charges.

[Dorian Gray]

Canon says at the bottom of this page that you need a "Class 4 or higher" memory card, and that cards made by Toshiba, SanDisk or Matsushita are recommended. A nice SanDisk Extreme might well be the ticket, though a Lexar Professional (I use these with my SLR) would probably be just as reliable. You may want a fast card reader as well as a fast card, because downloading many gigabytes of footage at 10 MB/s is pretty excruciating! Not a problem if you're patient though.

I've ordered stuff from B&H Photo while in the UK, and was very pleased with the overall service. B&H is a first-class outfit. You might end up paying import duties though (I did, but I knew I would when I ordered).

[Matsu]

Don't forget Best Buy and... gasp... Future Shop, yes I know. But I've noticed that from time to time they'll have a sale on one specific brand, or even just one specific size in one specific brand. Sometimes they're even good cards. Just check every day online, you might get lucky.

Tiger Direct is starting to get really annoying. Last few outings, they've had all sorts of cheap stuff in their catalogue - but walk into one of their retail locations and it wasn't on hand, or if it was, then a slightly different model, slightly different price, and all their good stuff was just as expensive if not more so. CF cards especially...

[Maciej]

I've bought from B&H. And I'll second Dorian's sentiments. They were an upstanding store when I dealt with them.

[Swox]

Awesome, thanks everyone for the input!

[turtle]

I use an A-Data Class 6 as a back up drive in my Macbook Mini and it's awesome. I got it for about $20USD from NewEgg. I can vouch for it's speed and abilities.

[PB PM]

Its hard to compare though to the ones others recommended, the Lexar Pro and Sandisk extreme have write speeds of 30MB/s, and are currently the fastest SDHC cards on the market. A-Data cards are middle of the road in terms of speed (15MB/s, IIRC).

[Swox]

Well, we ended up looking around, and found a Canon Vixia HF10 refirb for $499 USD from B&H. We figured that by the time we bought memory cards, the HF100 would cost the same, but not have the built in memory, so it was worth it. And everything in, it cost us about $100 less than buying the lesser HG10 in Canada (a demo until). Not a bad deal!

I'll let you guys know how it goes when it arrives in a week or so. Thanks for all the advice!