Digital video, advice please

Thinking about getting one of these-Sony DCR-SR52 Camcorder.
Has anyone got any experience of HDD video cameras, quality and capacity or is it better to still get tape version?
We want something easy to carry and use. Wifey wants to carry it on the horse when she does long distance rides(dont know where she will get a power supply though!!)
Thanks for any advice.

I was looking at this as well I think we had the 72 on loan but rejected it.

Make sure replay is at 720x576 or higher that way it's full DVD quality. If it's higher then you'll need extra software

I think it's the way to go tape is 1 hour HDD storage is up to 60 hours, so it's brilliant.

will have a look at the notes I made about this product.

right found the file and reason we rejected it.

Rejected as NO external camera in, otherwise good, few issues with codec typical sony needs additional software to make it work (DO NOT USE ON AVID SYSTEM IT CRASHES)