Whereas a couple of years ago Canon might have described this as a mini camcorder, it now describes it as a compact multimedia DV camera. Certainly by comparison with the others in this month's labs it's not mini, however it does manage to pack a lot of features into a relatively small package.

It is an upright camera rather than the longer, squatter shape of the MVX250i and weighs 43 grams less than its bigger but cheaper brother.
The 1.3 megapixel (860,000 effective) CCD produces a nice crisp image with truer colour than the 250i. It also is quicker to focus and adjust to changing light conditions.
Its 2 megapixel (1632 x 1244) still photo resolution was the highest of all of the cameras in the Labs and the quality was very good. The combination of PictBridge, Direct Print and BubbleJet Direct compatibility that is now being offered on most Canon DV cams means you can take full advantage of the MVX10i's still capabilities to print 10 x 8 prints direct from the card on any compatible printer.

Battery life in the Canons is not particularly good with the MVX250i offering only 60 minutes with the LCD on. No figures are provided for the MVX10i, however, during testing its battery ran down faster than its big brother.
The upright design is not the easiest to handle and the zoom control is awkwardly placed, which can sometimes cause you to lose sight of your subject as you fiddle to adjust it. There also is a tendency for anyone with big hands to get their fingers in the way of the lens or the sensors below it.

As with the other Canon, the LCD brightness is adjustable, however, it still does not fare particularly well in bright sunlight.
The 10x zoom lens is good and crisp but as soon as it moves past optical to digital magnification almost all semblance of the subject is lost.
The MVX10i is a quality camera with some good on-board image editing capabilities, however, its higher price, relatively poor battery performance and awkward design detract from the overall package.