I titled the review this way because I am comparing the Flip UltraHD with the Creative Vado. I literally did a side-by-side comparison so that the footage would be exactly the same. Same lighting, same zoom in and out, same everything.
When I unpacked the Flip, I was surprised to see the lack of accessories. No HDMI cable, no USB extension cord, no software. All of the above came with the Creative. The Flip does come with a soft bag for a case. The Creative came with a rubber cover. I will say that the Flip s very elegant looking; something James Bond would carry wearing his tux. :-) It's a little larger than the Creative with its chrome metal slides, has a velvety feel on the front and plastic on the back. I'm thinking it's wider so the USB will match the side port of a laptop. Of course with the metal sides the unit is heavier than the Creative. The Creative has the ability to change resolutions from HD+(2hr.), HD(4hr.), or VGA(8hr.) The Flip has no such options. On the Flip side, it has a AA battery rechargeable pack that can be replaced with AA batteries. The Creative has a internal battery pack only.
The footage was taken on a partly sunny and windy day. I started at the front of the house making a complete circle, zooming in and out on different objects. The first thing I noticed is that the Creative Vado has a slightly wider angle lens so objects don't appear as close as with the Flip UltraHD. After completing the circle outside I went inside. I wanted to see how the two camcorders would handle the lighting change. Then I walked to different rooms. I shot about 9 minutes of footage on both camcorders.
After watching both footage on the LCD TV using an HDMI cable this is what I came up with. My initial thoughts were that the overall footage on the Flip was a truer representation of the colors. On the other hand, the audio pickup was better on the Creative, especially in the wind. As far as the lighting change both camcorders handled it well. That being said, I was shocked to see so how grainy the Flip footage was when I walked from the outside lighted living room to the dark hallway, compared to the Creative. Also when I entered into a room only lit by a small red shaded lamp, the Flip footage had a red hue that covered most of the room. With the Creative footage, the red hue was mostly confined to around the lamp. Granted, these are not big fancy camcorders, so maybe the graininess is common for the pocket types.
I did a comparison of these two because PC World rated the Creative Vado as having the best video and I just happened to have both. Overall, I don't think either one would disappoint you. I think it boils down to price, weight, looks and accessories.
Get more detail about Flip UltraHD Camcorder, 120 Minutes (Black).
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