With all of Peter‘s talk about his digital cameras, I figured I’d throw my own hat into the ring.
A few weeks ago, I purchased a Traveler 6.31 Megapixel Digital Camera, from, of all places, Aldi. As mentioned in the comments, the camera appears to be a rebranded Vivitar Vivicam 4000.
Thus far, the camera has worked wonderfully. To start with, it came loaded with accessories – 2 Lithium Ion batteries and charger, a car adapter for charging on the go, a small carrying case with belt loop and plenty of cables for connecting your camera. The 128MB SD card was a bit small, but I have others (more on those another time).
The quality of the pictures has been solid, but I must admit that I haven’t used it nearly as much as I should have. I’ll try and put it through some paces one of these days.
As I understand it, this camera went for $269 over the Christmas holidays, and even at that price it would seem to be a pretty good deal. When I bought mine, they were apparently clearing them out, because it cost only $169, making it seem like a complete steal. I’m very happy with it thus far, but I’ll keep you posted on that if it changes.
Update May 26, 2006: I encountered the “take a couple pictures and the battery dies” problem myself. Thus far, no resolution. It seems that I can take somewhere between two and five pictures and then the camera shuts down, despite the battery having a seemingly full charge.
Luckily the batteries used by the camera are fairly common, though somewhat less so in the US than in the UK. I have found them here (charger here if you need one).
Free shipping on orders over $50, though I’m not sure how long that offer lasts. I’ve used this site before, and their products seem to work just fine – or they have in the past, at any rate. Let me know your experience if you use them and I can update the information here. I haven’t yet decided if I’ll invest more money in this camera or get a new one.
Update August 8, 2006: I ended up purchasing two of the batteries and a new charger from Atbatt.com (as linked above). I used them somewhat extensively on a trip last week, and they worked wonderfully. I have tried charging the old batteries, and they still aren’t working too well, but at least the camera is working again.
Update: Alas, the camera itself finally died, due to my own problems (I dropped it). For some reason, the camera works to some degree – it will go through menus and whatnot, but it won’t actually go through with the taking of any pictures or anything. So I’ve moved on. I have another Traveler camera, and I’ll post a review of it soon. It does not take these batteries, however, so if anyone needs any, contact me using the link below if you need some and make me a fair offer if you’re interested.
Update: The camera and all accessories have been sold. Thanks!
Comments
96 responses to “Traveler Digital Camera”
hi all. Aldi’s is at it again, this time w/ a 9mp Traveler 9900. it only has 3x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom. but i could care less about the zoom. i’m impressed about the mp. it’s DIRT cheap! any1 have one? how is it? complaints or suggestions?
Hi Kurt –
Unfortunately, someone else made me an offer a short while back, and I passed along the non-functioning camera, along with all the accessories that I had left, so I don’t have anything to offer. So sorry!
Chad,
I dropped my Vivicam 4000 recently and broke the LCD. You indicated that you also had dropped yours (DC-6300) and had to get a new one. I would be interested in buying your old DC-6300 for parts if the LCD is intact. I realize that your post was a couple years ago but thought I would give it a try since I really have enjoyed the camera and hate to scrap it.
Parts are not available through Traveler and with Vivitar in bankruptcy and now owned by Sakar, parts are not available there either.
Anyone ??
Thanks,
Kurt
I have been bought a Traveler DC-X 10 Mega pixel digital camera from aldi as a xmas present and am a bit concerned about it, i really want to buy a photo printer for it but cannot seem to find 1 anywere, can any1 help me is it easy to find printers and accessories for these cameras?
i bought 10.1 mega pixel dc-xzg digital camera from aldi in april of this year (2008). it worked great for awhile, i am traveling now and the camera is giving me serious problems – after a minute or less i cannot take any more picturs or they appear mono color. the camera gets really hot and colored bars start appearing on the screen, eventually the screen goes dark. i am told i need a new ctd (?) or something like that, which is not available anywhere.
does any one have a suggestion?
thanks for that chad any other opinions would be good too
Hi Kevin –
I now have the 8600, and change the mode all the time. Can’t say if it hurts it, but it doesn’t seem to cause any harm. Would be interesting to hear if anyone else has any opinions!
i have a traveller 6900 can any one tell me when you change to a different mode do you hav to have the camera turned off every time. does it harm it to have it switched on while changing from one mode to the next.cant find this info in manual thanks
I am having problems with my pics. They all come out orange-like and this is in regular lighting. I’m also having problems getting the pics to download into the computer. It shows pics and the numbers given to them but when clicked on they are blank. Also downloading is a pain the menu with downloading options won’t turn on the screen stays blank.
Hey Chad,
I have a Traveler Digital camera 6.31 and am in need of batteriesand any accessories you may have. Let me know , if interested in selling them. Thanks for the article.