The Flip Ultra HD
On Friday I picked up a Flip Mino HD for my upcoming trip to London. Meagan is speaking at FOWD and we thought it would be fun to have a little camera just for video.
Yesterday our friend Bill Couch pointed out that, although no official word has been given, Best Buy is currently selling a Flip Ultra HD camera. Still 720p at 30fps, but with a removable battery, longer charge life, and twice the capacity. For a full $30 less. I was pissed.
Today we went down to Best Buy for what was (surprisingly) a relatively painless swap. However, they did charge us an addition $3 to cover the rest of the 15% restocking fee. I also found it odd that there’s still no mention of the camera anywhere in the store, on their website, or on the Flip website. More than that, I found it scummy that the Flip Mino HD was marked down from $229 to $209 — especially since the newer model can do more and costs just $199.
Scummy.
A Few Notes
The screen is larger than the Mino’s and appears to be much sharper. The recording indicator light now doubles as the charge indicator and can be turned off. However, doing so also disables the light as a charge indicator. Which is lame. Unlike the Mino, you can’t plug this camera directly into a USB port on a MacBook Pro without it hanging off your desk. It’s just too thick (I’m told this isn’t an issue with the new unibody MacBook Pro) .
I think I’ll be picking up a USB extension cable since I don’t imagine it’s good for either device to be using the port for support. Otherwise, I expect this is going to be a very fun little camera to play with.
Bah, jealous. And I just missed being up there to play with it… Either way, have a blast in London, and I expect a load of video.
I’ve played with the Mino, but not the HD one. Though I think the (Mino) is nice, I still wouldn’t trade it for my Sanyo Xacti.
Have you looked at either of these?
The waterproof version, which I take to Africa.
The HD version (not waterproof).
I’m really looking forward to see how the videos come out. I picked up a JVC MS120 not to long ago. While it’s not HD capable, it will work for now. Maybe I can sneak one of these in the house at some point.
@couch I know, not even two weeks later too. Thanks though. I’m pumped.
@erik The Xacti looks pretty cool, and they seem to be pretty popular. I went with the Flip originally because everything was self-contained — no batteries, no memory cards, no wires — and really, no features was it’s biggest feature. Since it’s not something I’m going to use for serious video work I wanted it to be as simple as possible. I’m also going to use it as my baseline for consumer cameras in the future as I continue with the screencast series. Of course, a waterproof camera pretty much trumps everything in coolness. I’d love to be able to throw in a few underwater shots in my home videos.
@jermaine That looks neat too. Have you put up any video from it yet? I’d be interested to see how it looks. I’m sure I’ll post clips from the Flip in the next week or so. Maybe it’ll be enough for you to go ahead with your little clandestine gadget-sneaking operation. Good lucky, buddy.
[...] you can see, you get HD video quality and great sound for only $200. You can read a simple review and check a few photos from Jason Hawkins, a guy who knows his stuff when it comes to video and [...]
Hi, found you through Meagan’s new shiny site!
Anyway, have you heard about comparison between the Flip HD Camera(s) and the Kodak Zi6?
I am debating on whether one would have better quality?
I was checking it out this morning, want one as well! PS: NEVER TRUST THE RETAIL INDUSTRY!
Jason, it would be good to hear how this camera has done for you, now that it’s been a couple of weeks. How did it do on the London trip?