Camcorders - Help

DH and I decided that we would like to upgrade from our very old Sony Handycam Hi8 camcorder to something digital. We would like to take videos of our sons wrestling matches and daughters dance recitals. We have done some checking online and decided to go out shopping today. We went to two stores and talked with the salesperson and now we are more undecided than before. What make, model of camcorder do you have? Do you like it or hate it and why? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Oh I was hoping to stay under $400. Is that going too cheap to get a camcorder that shoots decient video?

I have no advice because I just have a cheapie from geeks.com (which I really like) but one thing that helps me out a lot when deciding on electronics is to read the reviews on products over on buy.com and bestbuy.com. Normal users write short reviews and you can learn alot from those reviews. Might be helpful.

Thanks Catherine. I checked out Best Buy already but I will check out buy.com and see what they have to say.

I know you definitely didn't want something this cheap but it might be something good to have around in case you don't want to bring the full size camcorder with you everywhere once you get it. It is suppose to go on sale today over on Amazon. Regular price is $70 so I'm thinking it will be $50ish.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002MXX0JQ/?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

One of the Amazon hot deals right now is a Samsung camcorder for $200. Not sure if that was one you were considering but it is 89% sold out so you might want to hurry to check it out.