What’s That In Your Pocket? HD Video?! You’ll Flip For This One!

Yes, there are many HD video devices out on the market today.  The newest iPhone (4) even can shoot HD video.  There are also contenders by Kodak and Flip Video (now part of Cisco).  Which one is right for you??   Well, I don’t have access to the iPhone 4 yet, and do not have any of the Kodak video models (if anyone from Kodak would like to send me one to review, just send me a note and I can get you the details).

I’ve tried hybrid DVD-Hard Drive camcorders from Hitachi — liked it, but a little big (good quality, but a pain to get it into your computer to share with folks), as well as the Sony Micro Digital Tape Recorder — the camcorder fit into my short pocket (but, the Sony broke after a bit and the video while “ok”, was difficult to share). Then I heard about the Flip Video cameras.  So for Father’s Day 2009 I asked my family to get me one.  They got me a Flip UltraHD. True, it isn’t perfect, but it has the best blend of features and price I’ve found so far. Here are the pros and cons of the Flip UltraHD (I know own 2 — a little more on this in a moment):

Pros:

• Small, easily fits in a pocket to bring along (or in a case with a carbiner clip)
• Light weight
• Excellent video (HD)
• Stereo audio
• Rechargeable batteries (charge off USB plug)
• Can take AA batteries which makes keeping it powered up on the go easy
• The SOFTWARE! —  it just works! — just plug in your Flip Video and the software recognizes it, pulls up the videos on the Flip and asks you what you want to do with them — save them to your computer, upload them to a social network site (Facebook, YouTube, etc.) share them with friends via your “channel” (an online website for your videos that you can control access to) or by email. Finally, if you take video from a family vacation or other event and then wished you had an EASY way to pull it all together into a short movie to share with family and friends, the Flip software can do this using Magic Movies (it might not be the best editing in the world, but if you’re strapped for time and don’t want to edit down your own masterpiece and really just want a way to share a taste of your vacation with everyone, this will do the trick!).
• Available accessories, including a watertight case.
• The little Joby gorilla tripod works like a charm with the Flip Video!

 Cons:

• Glitchy hardware — my Father’s Day 2009 Flip UltraHD stopped working just before Father’s Day 2010. I was a little ticked (but at the price charged for the Flip, you could view it as a disposable camera that could last about a year) — read below for my interaction with Flip’s Customer Service…There are a few known issues with the hardware – do a search and you should be able to dig up the list of complaints.
• Poor zoom — while it does have a little digital zoom, it doesn’t really move in/out enough to make it really worthwhile
• Poor picture quality in low light situations
• Lens is easily smudged when carrying it
• Getting the videos directly to an iPhone is a little difficult unless you use the Flip Share app and get to your videos through your “My Channel” online (which works really good so long as you are using a Wi-Fi connection or have a strong 3G connection — typical AT&T issue with that)

OK, so when my first Flip UltraHD stopped charging or registering on my computer, I contact Flip Share Support (support.theflip.com). I used the e-mail like back-and-forth process to let them know what the problem was and to get their suggestions on how to fix it.  I tried everything suggested and then received an email asking if I had fixed the problem – after I had previously responded that the problem still existed and the fix they suggested did not work.  So, I decided to call customer service.  I did, and they were quite helpful, looked over my interaction with the company on this issue and then came back on the line and told me that they could offer me a replacement Flip UltraHD camera, but I’d be responsible for shipping the old one back. I did, and then watched the tracking site to see when it was received.  It was received on a Wednesday, but didn’t get processed until late that Friday. In the meantime, I became concerned that I wouldn’t get the replacement before a scheduled camping trip with my sons for cub scouts.  So I ordered another one from Amazon.com (love that store) and they had a new one in my hands in 2 days . That was a little over two weeks ago and I’m still waiting to receive the replacement Flip UltraHD for my original camera.  I used the new Flip UltraHD I bought for the weekend camping trip with my sons and a week-long camping trip with my older son this past week.  It worked great.  Overall, I was quite satisfied with my interaction with my interaction with Flip’s customer service.  They didn’t give me a huge run around and when the fixes they suggested didn’t work, they happily agreed to issue me a replacement camera.

Bottom Line: For $152 (June 2010 price at Amazon.com), the Flip UltraHD camera is fantastic! But what really makes this the video camera for most families is the easy-to-use software that makes sharing videos easy.

Best Uses: Family videos, vacation videos, You Tube clips, other social media video; any video that you want to be able to easily share with firends and family using the web.

How I’ve Used It: Recorded cub scout events and shared them with other parents; recorded piano recitals and family vacations and easily created a quick-hits movie highlighting what we did and then shared quickly and easily with friends and family over the web.