A friend of mine is going to hong kong in the near future.
Does anyone know if camcorders are cheaper there. And are they the american or european model. (I'll make sure to get a international warranty)Thank you very much!!

hi,

I went to Hong Kong last year with the intention of buying a cheap camcorder. At the time the price difference on a sony pc9e was only £100. This was in one of the major reputable dealers on both Hong Kong island and Kowloon.
Many dodgy shops on Nathan road (kowloon) would quote really cheap prices (£500 or more cheaper) just to get you into the shop, where they could keep you waiting with the pretense that the camcorder was being fetched from a central warehouse. During this time they would show you more expensive cams to get your tech juices flowing. They would then say that the cam you wanted was out of stock but you could have the one you've been looking at for £900. Which according to them was cheap.

There are savings to be had but make sure your friend takes a recent camcorder and digi camera mag with him. (he'll probably be tempted to look for himself!) That way he can compare uk prices and reviews. Prices in camcoder mags are cheaper than high steet prices as well.

One other thing to remember if he does buy one is import duty.
If customs realise that he bought it in Hong Kong he'll have to pay duty and vat. This could wipe out any possible savings made.

As regards to warranties. I wrote to panasonic, jvc and sony and asked them would a camcorder be covered once I bought it back to the uk. Both panasonic and jcv said "no" as only goods bought in the EU would be convered in the uk. Sony said it would try and fix it but only as a gesture of good will and if parts were available?

I've just checked and the HK dollar is at 12.64 to the pound. When I went it was only 10.82. Based on one quote I had from a decent shop of $9000HK for a PC9e. It would have cost me £831. a saving at the time of £100 or so quid. Not much of a saving. At todays exchange rates I could have got it for £712. a saving of £220. That is quite a bit off and might be worth taking the risk?

In the end I bought a panasonic GS5 off the internet in the uk. Saved £200 on high street prices.

Hope this helps?
Drew.

Thanks for your reply!
I don't think I'll risk it.