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All in all, it's a respectable underwater offering for the price, but true argonauts are probably better off spending more for something that's constructed to handle real abuse.

The Samsung HMX-W200 might be a little less impressive than its specs, but it's still a very good rugged minicamcorder for the money.

The Samsung HMX-W200 is one of the few pocket camcorders that can survive falls and capture underwater video, but with video quality that doesn’t live up to its 1080p promise and some other issues, you can do better.

We got a video performance that rivals the best we’ve seen from a model that costs under $200. Yes, the camcorder has some design flaws and interface problems, but its success in our video performance tests overshadowed those minor faults.

In many respects its merely another waterproof pocket Internet model. But it does have significant abilities in key areas. In particular, its large back-side illuminated CMOS sensor ensures excellent performance in low light, and there's an Aqua filter available, too.

Great stills output does little to make up for the fact the Samsung W200 only supports microSD cards and lacks a macro shooting mode.