Flip UltraHD Video Camera - Black, 8 GB, 2 Hours (2nd Generation) OLD MODEL
by Flip Video
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Flip UltraHD Video Camera - Black, 8 GB, 2 Hours (2nd Generation) OLD MODEL
Customer Review: Point and Shoot Camcorder - Elements of Simplicity
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
PROS
All in one device
Simple operation
720p resolution
Lightweight/Convenient to carry just about anywhere
Built in software
8 GB of built in memory
Rechargeable battery or Conventional AA battery use
CONS
1x Optical Zoom/Only 2x Digital Zoom
Rechargeable only through USB
No HDMI cable included
No protective lens cover
No battery life indicator
OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS THAT I HAVE USED:
Panasonic Lumix TZ-5 (Used to capture video)
Samsung MX-20 (YouTube compatible)
WHAT IS IN THE BOX?
Camcorder
User's guide
Carry strap
Rechargeable battery
Drawstring bag
CONSTRUCTION
This is a lightweight plastic unit with a matte black antislip grip. It is lightweight and one handed operation is possible. The bottom of the unit has an off-centered tripod mount and battery cover lock. The right side of the unit has a small power button, and the left side has an uncovered HDMI port and spring loaded USB plug. The back of the unit has a 4 way multidirectional keypad and central red enter key, allowing the user to adjust 2X digital zoom, volume and navigation through the menus. A delete key and play key are to the sides of the keypad. A single speaker in the back of the unit is clear. A microphone is adjacent to lens. This has a 2 inch glossy glass 960x240 LCD screen which is very clear.
OPERATION
This camera is so easy to use. Just turn on the power and push the red button to record and stop recording. The startup time from the off position is about 3 to 4 seconds and recording is almost instantaneous. The play button allows you to review the video, instantly. Video playback on the screen is crisp, as is the sound. This is a point and shoot camcorder, allowing for digital zoom during video clip acquisition. Digital zoom has a smooth transition. The microphone is a stereo microphone but the speakers are mono.
Although accompanied with a rechargeable battery, I chose to use rechargeable Energizer Alkaline Batteries to get started with its use - I like the flexibility that this has to offer. The manufacturer states that you can get 2.5 hours out of the accompanying battery. The camera can be charged with its proprietary battery only through a USB port - no separate power cord.
SOFTWARE
Connecting my camera to the Macbook Pro is seamless. Just click on the camera's icon and select the software to install from the camera - no disks or painful installation.
The Software is simple but versatile. You can trim clips, add clips to a movie, send a clip by email, post to Youtube or MySpace, or send a clip to DVD. The interface is user friendly and intuitive. Videos can be saved directly onto the computer's hard drive and vice versa. You can capture stills only using the software.
COMPUTER HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS:
MAC
1.66 GHz Intel Core Duo or faster processor, 1 GB of RAM, OS X Tiger 10.4 or Leopard 10.5, and USB 2.0 port
PC
3.0 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or faster processor, Windows XP SP2 with 512 MB of RAM or Vista with 1 GB of RAM, and USB 2.0 port
VIDEO QUALITY
Video quality is very good in sunlight and ambient indoor light. There is no supplementary light, such as a flash. Very low light (where is barely enough light to read a page out of a book, for example) is quite grainy but I am impressed how well this works with slightly dark settings. If you can see detail with your naked eye, you can record with this camera. The manufacturer notes that this is equipped with "ultra low-light sensitivity (>1.4 V/lux-sec) with automatic low light detection".
There is no anti-shake feature or wind reduction but this is a simple point and shoot camera; no more, no less. This uses built in 8 GB of memory and no option for accessory flash memory. As you record, the duration of your clip is indicated. The amount of time remaining for the unit is also shown. No battery life indicator is built in.
Because of this unit, I will probably do more Video Reviews.
SUMMARY
Overall, this is a great device for taking quick movie clips and publishing them online. If you publish videos online, this is one of the most convenient devices to utilize.
If you can deal with certain limitations, this camera is a very good buy.
PS
If you need more zoom (for sporting events) or need additional recording time, consider the Samsung SMX-F34 (34 X optical zoom).
Samsung SMX-F34 Flash Memory Camcorder w/16GB Memory & 42x Intelli-Zoom (Blue)
UPDATE JUNE 1 2009:
I took this camera everywhere with me this weekend, including a boating trip. This unit is compact and very lightweight. The only negative is that this has no zoom beyond 2x digital zoom. It works well in low light, action shots, and casual shots. It was so easy to just connect the built-in USB connection to my notebook and upload the videos to Facebook, that I am taking this everywhere I go from now on.
Battery life on rechargeable AA batteries is very good. I estimate that I had about 6 hours of use on one charge.
Customer Review: Who thought of this design???
Summary: 3 Stars
Received my Flip UltraHD 2nd gen today along with a wall charger. Connected it to my Sony laptop, which recognized it, installed it and started charging it. At least I guessed it was charging because I couldn't see the screen as the way it has to be inserted into the USB port causes the screen to be face down, so I would have to saw a hole in my desk, crawl underneath, and peek through the hole to see the screen. What an ingenious design. That's where the Flip lost its first star. You can see the record light, which doubles as the charging light when the Flip is connected to a computer or the wall charger, but you can't see the charging status or progress on the screen. I then safely removed the Flip and...nothing. It wouldn't power on. I removed and reinstalled the battery pack and then it powered on fine. I shot a couple of short videos, which were almost as good as I get with my hideously expensive Sony camcorder, and the audio was better. I then tried the connect to the laptop and safely remove activity a few more times with the same results - wouldn't power on unless I removed and reinserted the battery pack. That's where it lost its second star. So I called Pure Digital "tech support" and got Tracy. I told her the problem and without asking a single question, she immediately said the unit was defective and I should return it to Amazon. Bummer, so before I boxed it up for shipping I decided to do a bit more Googling and discovered that there is a problem with the Flip battery pack. There are some steps that other Pure Digital techs who must be more, what's the word? Helpful? Competent? Interested? gave other customers to resolve a pause charging issue. Even though that wasn't my issue, what could it hurt to try so I did the steps. After about the 3rd time, the Flip started powering on most of the time when removed from the laptop. Coincidence? Luck? Not sure but I called tech support again to share this latest update, hoping to get someone other than Tracy who might have more troubleshooting tips. I just hate returning something and getting a replacement that has the same issues because of an inherent design flaw. I know people are reading reviews to research the quality of a product, not to read stories, but this story is too good not to share. This time I got Scott, at least I think that was his name, hard to tell because there were all kinds of clanking noises on the line, like when someone drops the phone. Equally distracting and confusing, another person was also talking, a woman. When I got tired of yelling over the noise, I asked where it was coming from. Must be static, Scott said. The 3 of us then continued a very disjointed conversation in which it was impossible to tell who was talking to whom. I finally asked, "Who is that other person?" The woman snapped, "We're training." Ahah - the clanking noises were the trainer's and trainee's attempt to connect to each other while also being connected to me. Scott then asked what the problem was and, now knowing he was a trainee, I meticulously explained. He then asked for the model #, date of purchase, whether it was purchased new, blabla. He then asked what the problem was. I reminded him that I just explained what the problem was, to which he replied, "I forgot." So I explained again. After a long pause followed by more clanking and some hushed conversation with the woman, Scott said this was an "out of box" issue and I must return the Flip to Amazon. I asked to speak to someone else, at which point amidst more clanking, the woman took over. Guess who? Tracy, who explained that their supervisor told them that new items must be returned to the vendor. To cut this short, let's just leave it at that after a completely futile conversation and seemingly no supervisor on board to speak to, I hung up on Tracy. I'm 100% convinced that this is not a defective Flip but that the Flip's OEM battery pack has a serious design flaw, as does the Flip itself. First of all, is the battery pack supposed to get so hot?? Second, if you're not going to provide a USB cable option, how about designing the flip-out usb connector in such a way that it locks in place and doesn't let the Flip wobble around when it's connected to the laptop or the wall charger? And how about designing it so the Flip is not lying upside down when connected to the laptop? Yes, you can use an extension cable if you're lucky enough to find one that will let the Flip charge, but why should we have to lay out more money just to make what we already bought work? And speaking of batteries, it's preposterous that there's no on-screen battery indicator. Also, I knew when I bought it that the Flip would not take stills (you can create stills from video frames using the Flip's software) so I'm not deducting stars for that but really, it should take stills. And then of course, there's the stellar tech support, which might have brought this review down to 2 stars if not for the fact that the Flip really does produce good video and very good audio (no, not professional quality but you can't expect that at this price). All in all, I think the Flip is a great idea and may have its competitors beat in some aspects but its design is in serious need of improvement.Customer Review: Decent portable HD, but lousy battery and customer service
Summary: 3 Stars
This review is based upon an older model Flip MinoHD Camcorder, 60 Minutes (Black) that I purchased 12/2008, however this review should stand also for more recent models.
The camera works as advertised. As I detail later on in the review, unless you are still within the 90-day warranty, the company will not replace the enclosed lithium battery after it dies. I told them I am willing to pay to replace the battery. Still, their unequivocal response seems to be that they do not service out-of-warranty Minos.
As for the function of the Mino, it is generally works well. It gives very quite decent video and great audio in a portable package. Image stabilization was nonexistent on my model. I can't speak for the current model. However, so long as you have a steady hand and don't go walking around too much image, the jitter was acceptable.
I bought the Mino because I needed quick, decent, portable video recording for day-to-day activities. Moreover, at the time it was fine enough for David Pogue, and so too for me. The video quality is great and looks fine on a iMac 24". The field of view is a bit narrow, so you have to step back to get wide subjects. Still, the field of view is acceptable (and notably, better and wider in practice than what shows up in the Mino monitor).
If my model was good, current models should be better.
The interface with the Mac is subpar, but acceptable. You just copy movies from the Mino as if it were a flash drive. However, DO NOT DELETE THEM FROM THE MINO DRIVE FROM THE MAC. If you do this, it confuses the Mino which tries to find the deleted videos. You then have to go through a few annoying steps to reset the Mino to function correctly. Delete only from within the Mino itself.
However, as I noted earlier, there is a significant issue that I just ran into with customer support: they do not replace old batteries out-of-warranty. Period. If you have problems with the Mino and you are out of the 90-day warranty period, it seems that they will not handle your problem.
Over the past two years I have hardly used the Mino because I prefer my D40 SLR. In this time period I have taken 40,000 photos with my DSL and only roughly 50 Mino photos. My Mino therefore has received minimal use--not because I don't like it, but because I much prefer still photos.
Despite my light use, after two-years the Mino no longer holds a charge. It only functions when plugged into a USB port. Conversely, my Nikon D40 which gets daily and heavy use has had to be replaced only once in the past two-years.
I reported my probable battery issue to the Mino customer support and they ran me through their traditional solutions: (1) recharge on a USB port for 24-hours, and (2) reset mino through a recessed reset button on the bottom of the machine by pushing the button for 5-10 seconds. The issue has persisted.
Initially they were going to fix the Mino with no questions asked, but then they told me--correctly--that my Mino purchased in 2008 was out-of-warranty. I fully conceded this point, but said that I really had only minimally used the Mino and that the battery should not be run down. They held firm.
I then asked them to quote me a price for swapping out the battery. I asked this question repeatedly by e-mail correspondence, but there was no answer. Although they answered my initial questions and provided suggestions and comments, when I asked about replacing a battery for my out-of-warranty Mino, they did not reply.
Today I finally called customer support and talked with operator #1135. She told me that they were "just getting their customer support up and running". She ran me through the stock responses, but when I asked point-blank how to handle an expired battery for an out-of-warranty Mino she told me that they do not provide such service.
I told her that most companies (e.g. Apple) who sell equipment with encased, non-swappable batteries will provide customers with an opportunity to replace the batteries for a price. After all, all rechargeable batteries will eventually fail to hold a charge. I find it hard to believe that I am the first Mino owner to have a dead battery. My Mino, for instance, was at least 2nd generation. I would guess that there must by many thousands of Minos with expired batteries. Still, while pleasant, the customer service representative doggedly stuck with her answer that they do not address out-of-warranty Minos. Talk about planned obsolescence.
So, all purchasers should be aware of this severe limitation with the Mino. It works as advertised as a basic, functional, dedicated movie camera. However, if you have any problems--and in particular, if the battery runs down--I have not been able to get customer service to replace it. They won't even quote me a price for switching out old batteries. From their point of view, my old Mino is an untouchable.
Customer Review: Good, with caveats....
Summary: 3 Stars
I purchased the Flip UltraHD based on the good reviews found here on Amazon and a recommendation from an outdoors magazine.
First off, it's a cute little camera, and I specifically chose the Ultra over the Minio for it's ability to use regular AA batteries in a pinch.
My trouble started when I first inserted the Flip into the USB port. The software is cleverly included directly on the Flip's flash drive so there is no need to distribute a CD with the product. I opened the drive that appeared on my desktop (Mac OSX 10.5 Leopard on a MacBook) and double clicked the installer. It prompted me for my password to proceed with the install. I entered it and hit ok. The FlipShare splash screen came up but it would never complete the install. I tried rebooting a few times to no avail. I copied the software installer off the Flip to my desktop and ran the installer. The progress bar refused to move, so I just let it sit for 10 minutes. I had to force quit the installer but it appeared to install FlipShare ok.
I had planned to leave the Flip plugged in to charge it but I soon discovered it wouldn't charge. I kept getting an error "Check battery pack - Charging Paused". This happened on the USB port built into the MacBook as well as in my powered Rocketfish USB hub. I googled this error and it seems others have been able to cure it by removing the battery for a day or two, then reinserting the battery and loading the updated version of the Flipshare software.
I was able to successfully install the updated version of FlipShare downloaded from theflip.com with zero issues on my Macbook. Upon putting the battery back in and attempting to load the mew FlipShare firware to the camcorder, I kept getting "Error cannot communicate with the device" whenever the updater would run for the camcorder. However I had no problem pulling videos off the Flip. Weird! and frustating!
I have a Dell laptop for work at home, so I downloaded the updated FlipShare software on the Dell. I installed it without a hitch and plugged in the Flip. Upon detecting the camera Flipshare immediately prompted me to update the camcorder firmware. I hit ok, and after a bit it reported success. Unfortunately, the Flip wouldn't charge at all on the Dell (wouldn't even display an error). I suspect this may be due to the fact that on this older Dell, the USB port is NOT powered.
I moved the Flip back to my Mac. Upon plugging it in, it began to charge (maybe that firmware update really did the trick??). I could see the battery meter slowly rise as it took a charge. After about 30 minutes though, it stopped. It displayed an error that the Flip was too hot and charging had been paused. I put my hand on the unit and it was indeed very warm. I took off the battery cover and pointed a large box fan at it. It seemed to fully charge (although I haven't yet timed a battery discharge on the unit yet).
That is a LOT of work to get something as simple as battery charging done! I should note that it's performance has been flawless on the rechargeable Energizer NiMH batteries I already have that use their own external charger.
I love the device itself now that I have it working and know of it's quirks. The video quality is good, especially when mounted on a small Gorillapod tripod. The included software, while very basic, does a goof job of letting you edit out pieces of video and then export the finish product easily. The picture quality was also much better than I expected.
The device does have a few annoyances though:
1) You cannot turn off the viewing display. I put the device on a tripod and pointed it at what I was recording and hit record. I wish I could just turn off the display to save battery life.
2)There also is no battery remaining indicator. If I knew the battery was down to say 20%, I might want to turn off the device and save the remaining battery power for a key event (say maybe singing happy bday and blowing out candles).
All in all, I'm satisfied with my purchase and would buy it again. The tech support responded to my emails with helpful instructions within 2 hours. The website was easy to use and it was easy to download the updated FlipShare program. I also expect as time goes on that future firmware release will continue to work out the bugs on this new product.
For all the initial hassles though, I can only give it 3 stars.
***Update***
I took this to a concert to record a few songs. The Flip has a lot of trouble recording bass sounds. It comes outs really popping and muddy with static. It drowns out all the other audio. Here are two songs I recorded. Note how the acoustic song is pretty clear while the hard rock song sounds terrible. Both songs sounded crystal clear in the club!
[...]
Customer Review: Fun camcorder!
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
The Flip is a pint-sized camcorder with a surprising feature set given its compactness. Though is it not a full-featured camcorder and I would not recommend it for serious recording (special events or production material), it is excellent for on-the-go shots and for spontaneous recording when opportunities present themselves.
The Flip is small - a little smaller than an ice cream sandwich. It may be little, but there's tremendous convenience in being able to drop your camcorder in your shirt pocket or your purse and have it at the ready. This compact size holds everything you need to start recording - batteries, flash RAM and all. Without tapes or DVD media on which to record, there's little reason for this device to be any bigger.
It is a solid little thing and feels durable. That doesn't mean it would do well if dropped or stepped on, but it likely will be ok if jostled a little.
Recording is simple. No, I should be more clear - recording with the Flip is trivial. There is no real science to using it: turn it on, point and press record. Press the record button again to stop recording. Even technological novices, or people afraid of electronics will have no trouble using the Flip to record. Playing back is equally simple - once the recording is finished, press the Play button.
There are + and - buttons, used for Zoom. The Flip doesn't have a particularly capable zoom, so shooting from a distance will not yield especially great results.
I tested this camcorder in my basement on a bright, sunny day, and I wandered about recording and chattering to myself. When I played back what I had recorded, I made a pleasant discovery - it does some light balancing and deals with changes in light levels so that the video is still clear. The sound is also good, better than I expected. When I walked down a dark hallway and into an unlit room, it had tried very hard to accommodate for the lack of light but it was unable to completely overcome the darkness. As there is no light on the camcorder to come on when it is dark, this is understandable, but it did surprisingly well in spite of that.
I attached the Flip to my computer to pull the video to my hard drive. FlipShare installed itself and started up, seeing the video I had made. It allowed me to pull it over and even gave me the option to delete it from the camera. Once finished, I was able to play the video through FlipShare. Instead, I decided to hunt it down and use a different application to play it.
I found the file and tried to open it with Windows Media Player. I got audio, but not video. When I switched to QuickTime, my video came up and filled my screen. This is the point at which I made an unfortunate discovery. Every minute move I had made while recording was now plainly obvious, as there is no anti-jitter built into the device.
The video, on a 1440x900 resolution screen, looked clear. It records at 1280x720, which is not that much smaller, so I was a little surprised. I would have expected a little pixelation, but this actually was not an issue.
There are few settings that can be adjusted on the Flip - language, date, time and recording light.
The Flip is a nice camcorder that provides tremendous convenience and fun. It is very easy to use and very compact. It is important to remember that it has some limitations which make it a less-than-ideal choice for more serious application, but if those limitations are not an issue for you then the Flip is a fun and affordable way to capture things on video.