Flip MinoHD Video Camera - Black, 4 GB, 1 Hour (1st Generation) OLD MODEL
by Flip Video
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Flip MinoHD Video Camera - Black, 4 GB, 1 Hour (1st Generation) OLD MODEL
Customer Review: Pretty amazing
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I have the flip ultra (not HD) as well. I like them both (although the Ultra is about $100 less--uses AA batteries--is about twice as thick and doesn't look as sleek and "gadgety").
The MinoHD takes very nice looking video, even indoors in fairly low light. There is absolutely NO learning curve--just turn it on, set the date and time, push the button and start shooting.
Likewise, saving the video couldn't be easier.(I have a VISTA laptop. My old work PC with XP could not download the Ultra--not sure if it works with this one, but I would doubt it.)
It is extremely easy to do an assembly edit. They even include a B/W title maker, credits, and the optional Flip logo at the end. I literally made a little edited film--with titles--in less than a minute.
They supply music (again, one click and a matter of seconds to add), or you can easily use your own. It was easy to connect to the television and looked surprisingly good for something that took seconds to create!
One difference from the Ultra is the editing. The Ultra's software gives you some automatic choices that gives several (automated) editing styles to put to music (again, your music or theirs). The Mino doesn't do this at all.
Instead, it has a "greeting card" feature (Xmas, Hannukah, New Years, Birthday, Valentine, etc.) that you can "drag and drop" your video into and send as an email (it is also easy to upload any videos to YouTube, etc.). Very fun way to stay in touch--and, again, it literally took UNDER A MINUTE to create...place...email...and receive.
But nothing's perfect, and--as others have mentioned--sound is a problem. Even a few feet apart the sound quality was fairly poor (and there are no jacks to add either light or mikes). That said, it is a "workaround" to me, rather than a deal breaker. I just plan to use other sound--music or voice over--for things far away.
The sound is the only reason for 4 stars. Otherwise...definitely recommended.
Customer Review: Another great Flip Camcorder
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I think Flip is the absolute leader in inexpensive mini camcorders. They've definitely improved their line with the additions of the MinoHD.
The one thing I really love about the Flip line of cameras, is you don't have to worry about that extra CD to install programs on your computer. It's all tucked away nice and safe on the camera ready for you to plug it in and go. Any install that needs to be done is immediately done by the camera.
The editing software is much improved over the one that came with the Ultra line of Flip cameras. It now allows you to add an opening title, join clips together to make one movie, and then add end credits. The only thing I would like to see added to the software is the ability to add a couple of different transitions to between the clips.
When it comes to the camcorder itself, it's dead easy to use. Hit the power button and in less than 3 seconds you're ready to go. Hit the red record button and you're making HD memories.
The only thing preventing me from giving this 5 stars is the sensitivity of the buttons. With the exception of the record button all the other buttons are extremely touch sensitive. I've found myself more than once lightly grazing the zoom button while filming and having it zoom in or out when I didn't want it too. The buttons work somewhat like the touch screen on the iPhone where just the lightest touch can set off the capacitive feedback of the button to activate it.
One other thing I would like to see Flip add to their cameras is an SD card slot so you can add additional recording time. All in all though 60 minutes of recording time is sufficient for most things I do, but it would be nice to have that choice.
Given its small size, I always carry my Flip with me everywhere I go. It's perfect for parents with small kids, because you can just throw it in the diaper bag and always have it on had to catch those cute moments that pop up. You can't ask for an easier camera to use.
Customer Review: Tiny, easy and light!
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
This is my first Flip Video Camcorder. I do have an RCA Small Wonder, but let me tell ya, the Small Wonder is big next to this Flip Video MinoHD Camcorder! As a comparison, this MinoHD is a little narrower and a little shorter than my Blackberry. I can carry it in my fanny pack and not even know it's there; it's so small and light.
It was really easy to start taking videos; just turned it on and I was ready to go (after the initial quick setup)! It had almost a full battery when I received it, but I did charge it that evening thru the USB connector. I experimented with some videos; first I used it in a room that had no overhead lights on - just a few lighted decorations and the video was dark. So I tried it with the overhead lights on and the video was great, so I guess it needs a lot of light. The RCA Small Wonder seems to adjust to the brightness better than this MinoHD. I connected the Flip MinoHD to the TV (TV connectors were included) and the picture was very clear on the 20" screen.
I cut one of the videos (very easy to do with the software that comes on the Camcorder) and emailed to someone to test out how it worked. Beware that HD takes up a lot of megabytes. A 20 second video was 27.5 mb! I cut it down more so I could email it. The recipient said that she just had to click on a link to see the video so didn't have to download the whole thing and that was good. There's an included program to email videos and even different cards (holidays, birthdays, etc.) that can be sent with a video in them and I thought that neat.
It does not use external batteries; just the internal Li-ion battery and there is no slot for any memory card. If you plan on using this longer than 60 minutes and won't be by a computer to recharge it, I'd recommend a Camcorder that has a memory card slot and external batteries. For my purposes this one should work great.
So far I'm really enjoying this and plan on using it on Thanksgiving and Christmas!
Customer Review: I love this little pocket camcorder
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I love this camcorder - so much, in fact, that I gave away my 3 yr old MiniDV camcorder. The flip mino takes more than adequate video quality for filming the kids or family activities - it's not professional movie quality, but at this price point, that's an unrealistic expectation. What really sets it apart and makes it the only camcorder I use, is it's small size and ease of downloading videos onto the computer for saving or emailing. The software is embedded on the camcorder itself and installs the first time you plug it in, after that you just plug in and choose what you want to do - save it, which only takes a few minutes. Emailing takes longer to upload to flip's servers, but is wonderful because you can email out much larger and longer videos than you could thru traditional email (unless you want to spend hours transcoding to smaller resolution before sending). This camcorder is easily small enough to toss into your purse so you always have it handy, which is actually where I keep mine when not in use. My only complaint is that when I try to combine multiple videos to make a movie, the process crashes and it can't even begin (I'm running windows vista, with intel onboard video). However, this is a minor complaint, since I don't really plan on making a bunch of movies or dvd's - if I wanted to do that, I would've kept my big expensive tape camcorder. And this can still be done using other traditional video editing software. This is primarily for those who want to have videos and be able to keep them and manage them on their computer as easily as they do their photos, or for those who want to be able to easily email or upload their videos to the internet. Lowlight quality, which is typically an issue for all camcorders, is great - there is some noise, but it still does better than my 3 yr old minidv camcorder. If there was anything I felt it was lacking, that would be an electronic image stabilization - but that would also add to the price.Customer Review: great little gadget; a few minor tweaks could make it even better
Summary: 5 Stars
Got this as a Christmas gift, and I have to say, it's a pretty nifty little device. It does exactly what it was intended to do, which is capture videos spur-of-the-moment -- it's very portable (small and lightweight), and starts up very quickly, and is very easy to use.
If you're looking for something that can capture more video, like on a roadtrip or vacation, then this really isn't the tool for that, given that it maxes out at 60 minutes, but like I said, for what it's intended to do, it is aces.
Some things that could be improved on though:
- Picture seems a bit zoomed in by default, so you have to be a fair distance back to capture subjects in the frame.
- Would be good to have an option to lower shooting resolution, as the default resolution does tend to produce some pretty large video files. I just recompress on my PC after downloading, but maybe that could be a function, if not on the Flip itself, then maybe of the FlipShare software.
- USB arm is not the most versatile -- my ThinkPad has vertical USB slots, so that means I can only plug the Flip on the right-hand side slot, which is usually where I plug my mouse. A USB extension cable in the box, and not sold as an accessory (Flip sells them, packs of three, different colors -- do you really need three USB cables, in different colors?) would be nice.
- I actually had a few problems with charging at first, using my own AC/USB adapter (Belkin) -- Flip stopped charging with the error message "Charging stopped, recorder is hot" (or something like that), and even my own USB cable, but it wouldn't charge completely. So I can only charge now using my laptop, and that works fine, and the battery does seem to last a while.
Still haven't fiddled around with the video editing software, nor tried connecting the camera to my TV (a non-HD TV), so I can't comment on those features yet, so I may update this review in the future once I get around to trying those out.
Oh, another plus -- it fits perfectly in my waterproof pouch, so I can bring it in the pool or to the beach. Great fun.
Overall, I love this toy.