Canon Legria FS20 vs Sony DCR-SX40/60... vs anything from Panasonic?

[stadleroux]

My one-year-old entry-level Panasonic MiniDV camcorder and significantly older digital camera got "unilaterally expropriated" recently and I just heard yesterday that my insurance claim will be paid out in full, a favour I shall no doubt be returning by way of increased premiums over the next couple of years, but it nevertheless leaves me in the rather pleasant dilemma of having to decide what I'd like to replace them with.

I'm pretty much sold on Canon for the camera, so I'm very tempted to go the same route for the camcorder, but just about every shop in Cape Town is waiting for stock from Canon SA, so I haven't had a chance to see any of the new range of Canon Legrias. I saw and held the Sony DCR-SX40 in a shop yesterday, but they didn't have a charged battery with which it could be switched on - yeah, I know... - so I don't have any idea of what it's really like.

I like the idea of having a camcorder which could use the same type of storage as the intended digital camera, ie SD cards in a pair of Canons, but if I got the more expensive Sony I might not even have to buy external cards that urgently, since I use the camcorder on day and weekend outings most of the time anyway. The longer zoom in the Sony seems attractive, but it obviously also comes with its own liabilities.

I've searched for reviews of these two models, but haven't found any yet, apart from a little five-minute clip about the Sony on Youtube which basically just mentioned most of the features (including the maximum digital zoom! ) so if someone knows of a reasonably thorough review out there I'd appreciate the link to it!

Since I had a Panasonic I'd actually like to get one again, but Panasonic SA have closed down and been bought out by Panasonic Japan, who still needs to get their distribution network up and running, with the result that there's nothing much Pany on the shelves at the moment. Might it be worth my while waiting for their stock to become available again? I've only found one rather short review of the Panasonic something-something-26 (I think). Any other information would be appreciated. TIA.